Adventure of a lifetime
by lordsandmoose
Summary: A stranger has appeared in Ooo. What do they want? How did they get there? Join Fin and Jake on an adventure that will change lives... forever
1. Welcome to Ooo

_A/N Hey everyone. I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. I'm sorry if the last story had an ending that wasn't par with what you guys like, but I have some things set up that need to be executed in a certain way in order for it to work and I apologize for that. Anyway, enjoy the first chapter of the new story!_

**Chapter 1****: Welcome to Ooo**

Fin and Jake were working on the treehouse after a recent attack from some unsavory monsters, but nothing they couldn't handel. A few tiles fell off and a few planks were broken. Easy to manage. However, their work was interupted by a candy pidgeon fluttering and then resting on Jake's shoulder. Jake stopped what he was doing and turned his hand, which was a hammer, into a hand and grabbed the bird.

"Hmm..." He bit into the bird to reveal a package contained inside. He opened the package and saw a small machine inside as well as a note saying who it was from. Jake stretched himself to the other side of the treehouse where Fin was. "Yo Fin! I got a thingy here from PB!" Fin looked at Jake and set down his tools.

"what did it say?" He asked as he approached Jake.

"I dunno. I was waiting to show it to you." Fin took the device from Jake and inspected it. He saw a button, so he of course pressed it. Instantly, a hologram of Princess bubblegum manifested out of the device.

"Fin, Jake, I need your guy's help at the candy kingdom ASAP." PB said.

"What's wrong princess? Ice King again?" Fin asked.

"Fin, remember that this is a prerecorded hologram and that I can't reply to you." She continued. Fin hung his head.

"Aw man..."

"Anyway, this is urgent. Please hurry." At that, the hologram dissipated and the device blew up. Fin took the birb Jake had and bit into it as well.

"Well, guess we better go. The treehouse can wait." Fin said as he went inside and packed up.

"I just hope this doesn't take too long. Me and lady had some plans this afternoon."

"What kind of plans?" Fin asked as he raised an eyebrow. Jake chuckled.

"I'll tell you when you're older."

Later, at the candy kingdom throne room

PB paced back and forward, waiting for the hero's to arrive.

"Oh, Hurry Fin and Jake..."

"We're right here." Fin said from behind. PB yelped in surprise and jumped back.

"Ah! How did you get in here like that?!" She asked, heart racing. Fin apologized.

"Sorry Peeb's. We had our psychic war elephant psych us here."

"Uh... He can do that?" PB asked.

"I guess so, but anyway, what did you need? It sounded important." PB composed herself.

"Right. So anyway, I'll skip to the good parts. I recently set up perimeter 'tripwires' all around Ooo that monitored who comes and leaves, to make sure there's no ill goings on, ya know?" She explained.

"Uh huh." Fin and Jake replied.

"Well, I just got a reading a few hours ago that someone totally new to Ooo just showed up and I want you two to figure out who it was and to see if they're dangerous." She finished. Fin smirked and pulled out his sword.

"On it PB! I'll kick their butt into the dirt!" He said. PB smiled and patted his head.

"Easy Fin. Only beat their butt if they're a threat. We don't want to leave bad first impressions.

"Why can't your banana soldiers do it?" Jake asked.

"Oh, that's because I'm retiring them for now. I got something special cooking in the labs that I think will be enjoyable." She said with a smile.

"Ok. Well, We're heading off Peebles." Fin started to march towards the door, ready to complete the task he was given, but before he could, the door opened and a figure stood forward into the doorframe. They were secluded in darkness, preventing them from seeing who it was. However, they could clearly see a massive bladed weapon of some kind in the figures hands. Acting on instinct, Fin drew his sword as he and Jake took a protective stance in front of PB. "Who are you?!" Fin demanded. The figure cocked their head a bit.

"You... want to know... who I am?" They said. The figure rapped their fingers on their weapon. "Sure... I'll tell you who I am." Fin gulped and prepared for the worst. Suddenly, Starchy, who had taken job as janitor after he got fired from grave digging, fixed the light above the figure's head, totally illuminating them. Turns out, the figure was simply a boy wearing green and blue clothes with yellow shoes and a big grin on his face. If it wasn't for the weapon he had, he'd look almost harmless. "I'm Mike, pleasure to meet you." He said, extending his hand. Everyone was too cautious to take it, except starchy. Starchy shook hands with Mike, who gladly shook back. Mike then looked around and spotted PB. "Ah, you must be the princess I heard so much about." PB glanced from side to side before answering.

"Uh... Hi... Can I help you?"

"Nonsense!" Mike exclaimed as he wanderered around, admiring the decor. "I was actually wondering if I could help you!" He grinned at PB.

"Uh... wait a sec, you're the guy who tripped my alarms!" She said.

"Really? Sorry about that." Jake raised a brow at Mike.

"Hey dude, could you put that thing away? It's kinda freaking me out." Mike looked at his weapon.

"You mean my scythe? Forgettabout it. I only use it for self defense. No different from your friend over there. His sword looks almost aa big as him!" Mike said while looking at Fin. Mike walked over to him and offered his hand. Fin did not react, he only continued to stare at the smiling boy. After a few moments of just standing there, Mike chuckled. "Hello? The lights on in your house buddy? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Fin? Bro? You ok?" Jake asked. Without looking away, Fin only said two words.

"He's... human..."


	2. The attack

_A/N Hello again. Nothin on my noggin today. Enjoy!_

**Chapter 2: The attack**

Mike slowly looked around the room, which now had all eyes on him.

"Is there a problem?" Mike said.

"How did I not. notice as soon as I saw him...?" Princess bubblegum said to herself.

"To be fair, this isn't the first time we've encountered uh... human-ish people. Remember Susan strong?" As Jake and PB chatted back and forth about human look-alikes and being blind as a bat, Fin just couldn't take his eyes off Mike. It had been awhile since Martian... Fin shook his head and continued to look at Mike.

"Ya know, a picture might last longer." Mike said. This shook Fin from his trance.

"O-oh. Sorry man... It's just uh..." Mike waved his hand dismissively.

"Don't worry about it. I know I'm an extremely attractive specimen." Mike chuckled. "I'm joking. Don't see humans often I guess?" Fin nodded his head.

"Yea... I haven't seen another human in so long..." Before their conversation could continue any further, PB decided to integrate Mike.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" She demanded.

"Well, I already told you my name was Mike, and I came here in search of you, actually." Mike grinned at PB.

"M-me? Why? What do I have to offer you?" Mike twirled his scythe a bit.

"Ya see, my effeminate friend, I've come to the understanding that-" Suddenly some black screens lit up and displayed a figure looming in darkness.

"Princess? I didn't know you set up T.V's?" Jake said as he looked at the princess, who shrugged.

"I set them up a few weeks ago while you and Fin were off in the mountains doing... whatever you were doing. I figured out how to piggy back off the derelict satellites in space-" She shook her head. "That's not important, look!" She pointed to the screen. The figure that was once in darkness leaned forward and grumbled. It was still dark enough to conceal their face, but it was obvious it was a face of annoyance.

"You disappoint me, Bonnibell." The distorted voice said as it rubbed the bridge of its nose. PB seethed with anger.

"Do. Not. Address me. Like that." She said with a growl. The figure glared back just as hard as PB glared at it.

"We gave you a week to give us what we want. Then another. And today marks the third week. We're tired of waiting." PB said something in german the others couldn't understand... but it would no doubt had made a sailor blush with shame. "Ugh... One. More. Week. We're out of patience Bonnibell. One more week to give us what we want, or we'll tear your kingdome out from under you. This us your one and only warning." The T.V abruptly cut back to black. PB had her hands clenched and her teeth gritted. Her face was a darker shade of pink than usual.

"Uh... Princess...?" Fin slowly said.

"DU HURENSOHN!" She yelled with explosive anger. Fin's eyes widened in shock, he had never seen PB this angry.

"Peebs-" He started, but he shut up instantly once she shot her head towards him and growled like a rabid animal. Fin shrunk and slowly stepped away. After realizing who she snapped at, her face softened and she tried to calm down.

"I'm sorry Fin, I'm not mad at you." She grumbled and stomped her foot on the ground. "Oh! I'm so angry!"

"Who... Who was that, Princess?" Jake asked. PB either didn't hear the question, or chose to ignore it. She looked at Fin and Jake.

"I have a quest for you."

"Anything, PB." Fin replied. She glanced around for a moment, as if making sure nobody was listening.

"Guys, there might be a possible coup soon." She said in a hushed whisper.

"Coop? Like chicken coop?" Fin asked as be scratched his head. PB shook her head, slightly disappointed.

"No dummy. A coup is when the people overthrow a monarch... Likely ending with me not having my head..." Fin's eyes widened.

"Oh my glob-" PB covered his mouth quickly. "Shh... You never know who's listening. There'spropaganda posters all over the candy kingdom, harsh whispers in the alleys. I can't trust anyone anymore, except you two. Which is why I need you to do something for me."

"Anything, my queen." Jake said with a bow, trying to lighten the mood. This caused PB to smile a bit.

"At ease, knight. Here, take these. "She lifted a slab of floor aside and pulled out a locked box. She took out a key and unlocked it. Inside was a thing of documents and papers that were intact, but looked ancient. She gave them to Fin and Jake. "These are war summons, ancient treaties forcing those who are given them to fulfill ancient promises. Guys... We're going to war."

"War!"

"Shh! But yes, war. I can't hope to take the mystery person on by myself, I can't even triangulate their signal. Which is why I need all the help I can get. Can I depend on you to help me?" Fin and Jake nodded. PB smiled and nodded back. She then turned to Mike. "Don't think I forgot about you, new guy." Mike grinned at her. "So you need my help? Well, I need your help. Help Fin and Jake and I'll do everything in my power to help you out. Deal?"

"Sounds like a deal to me, but I gotta ask, why even put an ounce of trust in me? For all you know I'm in kahoots with that mystery whack job." Mike said while pointing to his head and making a circular motion.

"Because; you only just arrived. I doubt you know anything about Ooo's politics, you look like you ca handle yourself, and if you do end up being evil, i got my two best men watching over you at all times." She said with a smile.

"She called us her best men, that makes me feel good." Fin said.

"You got a deal, Toots." Mike said with a smirk.

"That's princess to you." She replied.

"Princess toots." PB rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Weirdo. Now, get going you guys. It's gonna be a long hard journey and you only have a week to do it. The fate of the candy kingdom rests in your hands." She said as she sent her hero's off.

"You got it PB, we'll be back in no time!" Fin said as he charged out the door.

"With an army too!" Jack added as he followed his brother. Mike followed suit with a smile on his face.


	3. The ice treaty

_A/N Nothing to say right now. Enjoy!_

**Chapter 3: The ice treaty**

They looked back one last time at the candy kingdom, then looked ahead towards their impending adventure.

"This is gonna be so cool!" Fin exclaimed in excitment. "Where do we go first Jake?" Jake pulled the papers out of his body and looked at the first one.

"Hmm... Looks like we gotta go to the ice kingdom first." Fin groaned

"Aw man... not Ice King... but wait, Doesn't PB hate him?"

"I guess, but this seems like a bug enough problem to where that doesn't matter right now."

"True... but still, ugh. Ice King."

"Who is this king of ice you speak of?" Mike asked. Jake and Fin took a few moments to explain who Ice King was. They told him that he lived before the apocalypse and that his crown kept him alive, but drove him insane. They walked and talked to save time as Mike soaked in all the knowledge. "He kinda seems like a pushover. Why doesn't anyone do anything about him?"

"Well that's just it, he's a pushover. He's really more a danger to himself than to others." Jake explained.

"Yea man. That, and I'd never miss a chance to pound on Ice King." Fin said with a smirk as he punched his palm. They continued walking towards the frozen lands, all the while Jake glanced at Mike every few minutes. Mike noticed and grinned at Jake.

"Problem, friend?" He asked.

"Your smile, man. It's kinda freaking me out. I haven't seen you without one since we met."

"What's there not to smile about? The sun is shining, flowers are blooming, there's mystery and adventure around every corner. The way I see it, your lack of a smile is freaking _me _out." Mike explained.

"You got a really bright attitude about things." Fin noticed.

"Always. It keeps you healthy." The trio bickered and talked back and forth until they heard the satisfying cronch of snow underfoot.

"The ice kingdom. Ice King has to know we're here now. Look out for traps and the like." Fin said as he marched into the snow.

"You mean like the one you're about to step on?" Mike pointed out.

"Wha- Ah!" Fin found himself crashing through a thin layer of snow into a ice pipe network.

"Fin! I'm coming buddy!" Jake said as he dove into the tunnels after his bro. Mike chuckled and shook his head as he hopped in after the two. A few twists and turns later and they found themselves locked in a cell of ice. Before they could even collect their wits, they heard the familiar laugh of the Ice King.

"Ahahahaha! Yes! Fallen right into my trap! Now I shall-" Ice King's monolauge was quickly interupted.

"Yea, yea. Look Ice King, we don't have time for this." Jake said as he punched his way out of the ice. the trio stepped out and wiped off a bit of snow they had accumulated.

"Wha?" Ice King replied. Jake took out the papers and showed then to Ice King.

"PB needs help. She wants to-" Ice King pressed his finger to Jakes lips, shushing him.

"Ah, ah, ah. Say no more. I'm in. Anything that'll get me closer to sweet, sweet princess bubblegum I'll certainly jump on!" Ice King said with enthusiasm.

"Uh... ok then. That was easy." Fin said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I... Guess we continue on then..." He finished as he started to walk off, but Ice King stopped him.

"Wait! Before you go, I've been working on my fanfiction and I wanted to know if you could give me some feedback." Ice King said with a grin as he held up a thick stack of papers. Mike's eyes shifted from side to side with an uneasy smile as he took a step back. "What's wrong with you?"

"I'm not touching this conversation with a ten foot pole.

"Hmm... Oh well then." He tossed the papers aside. "Who are you anyway?"

"Names Mike. I just arrived in Ooo and I already got into local politics and starting a war. I'm having a grand ol' time."

"I'm glad you're liking the place. Say uh... you were with Princess Bubblegum right? Did she uh... say anything about me?" Ice King asked with hope.

"None whatsoever!" Mike replied with a grin.

"Oh..." Ice King hung his head in disillusion. He then shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Gunther!" A penguin soon waddled up to him.

"Wenk."

"Do daddy a favor and go to the candy kingdom. Give the princess this note. "He scribbled into a piece of paper and signed it with lots of X's and O's. Gunther took the note and waddled off towards the candy kingdom. "Gunther's off to give word that I'm ready to fight, with an engire legion of ice by my side! AHAHAHAHA!" he laughed dramatically, but after seeing it had no affect on the trio, he cleared his throat. "I just gotta pack some things first."

"Is that all?" Fin asked.

"Yea I think so.

"Good, 'cause we got lots of other places to go." Fin and Jake and Mike said their goodbyes and made their way out of the castle. "Oh, by the way Ice King, lay off PB or I'll beat your butt."

"Hmm... no promises." Ice King laughed as he used a magical frozen wind to push the trio out of his kingdom. Fin growled a bit.

"Ice king!"

"Save it Fin, we got more important places to be." Fin mumbled in agreement.

"Fine... so, where are we off to next?"

"Hmm..." Jake looked down at the papers. His blood then ran cold.

"Uh... Jake?" Jake paled and began to shiver a bit. Fin took the papers out of Jakes hands and looked at where they neeneeded to go next.

"The nightosphere?" Fin gasped. "We'll get to see Marceline! Woot Woot!" Fin waived his hands in the air as Jake groaned in dispare.


	4. Ashes to ashes

_A/N Hello everyone! I hope you had a good Christmas, and a happy new year in advance! Enjoy!_

**Chapter 4:**** Ashes to ashes**

"Ok... lets see if I remember how to do this..." Fin said to himself. "Happy face..." He drew a simple smiling man on the ground. "Bug milk..." He doused the face in milk gained from a nearby beetle. "Incantation..." Fin cleared his throat and spoke. "_Maloso vobiscum et cum spiritum!" _At his words, an eerie blue portal opened on the ground.

"Evil be with you and with your spirit? Cool." Mike said. Jake raised an eyebrow at Mike.

"You know what that means?" He asked. Mike shrugged.

"It's old world latin. I'm kind of a history buff."

"Hmm..." Jake looked into the portal. "Ugh... not looking forward to going in there.

"Same bro, last time I was in there, I wore that weird necklace and..." Fin shivered. "Lets just get this over with. Last I heard, Marceline was down there trying to reconnect with her dad. So at least there will be a friendly face." Fin said as he hopped in.

"Easy for you to say..." Jake mumbled as he followed Fin. Mike was last to jump in, but jump in he did. They all landed feet-first into the dark, firy world of the nightosphere. They looked around and saw that they were already in Hudson Abadeer's house already. "Whew. At least we don't have to wait in that glob awful line."

"No kidding, man. Hmm..." Fin looked around the semi-familiar house. He stroked his chin. "C'mon. Let's go find Hudson, or Marceline. I'm sure one will lead us to the other." Jake and Mike nodded as they began to search the house.

"Hmm... Dude, Hudson's probably in his court room judging peoples." Jake said.

"Yea, you're right. That's probably the first place we should look." Fin replied as they started walking in that direction. However, they halted their journey as they realized Mike had stopped following them.

"Uh...Whatcha doing dude? Hudson's this way." Jake said as he tugged on Mike's arm a bit, however, Mike's gaze was fixed on a hallway.

"I heard something from down there. Maybe it's your Marceline friend?"

"I didn't hear anything... but I guess it wouldn't hurt to look." Fin said as he started down the hallway. It wasn't long before he heard what Mike heard. It was soft and barely audible, but it was definatly there. It was the sound of soft, weak whimpering. "What the...?" The sound was coming from a room at the far side of the hallway. They slowly and quietly inched their way towards the room and slowly creaked the door open once they reached it. It was dark as coal in the room, but the whimpering was definatly coming from in there. "You got a light, Jake?"

"Yea man. One sec." Jake pulled out a torch from his body and lit it then handed it to Fin.

"Thank." He replied as the trio stepped into the room. Fin waived the torch from side to side, trying to illuminate the room as to find the source of the noise.

"F-fin..." A weak, feminine voice came from a dark corner. Fin strained his eyes to see, but could only make out a silhouette. He'd need to physically go into the room to make out who it was. And that's exactly what he did. He, and the others, entered and approached the dark corner and the mystery female. He slowly approached and squinted as he rose the torch up to shine light on the girl. However, the sudden difference in light slightly blinded him as his eyes dilated.

"Hello? Who's there? Don't worry, We're not gonna hurt you."

"Fin... Get... Get out of here..." As soon as these words were uttered, Fin's blood ran cold. At that moment, his eyes adjusted fully to see the sad, pitiful figure in front of him. It was none other than marceline. Except... she was so pale. Paler than usual at least. She was skin and bone and from the looks of it, she was starving. It was bad enough that she passed feral mode long enough ago that the starvation adrenaline wasn't keeping her up anymore. She was at the verge of true death at that moment. "Oh my glob! Marceline!" Fin dropped the torch and scooped her up. She was so... small. So fragile in his hands. It hurt his heart to see her like that. He laid her on the bed and and searched his pack for anything red.

"Guys.. you need... to run..." She said slowly.

"Dang girl, what happened to you?" Jake asked with concern. He was downright terrified of Marceline, but decency won out over fear. "Was it Hudson?! It was Hudson wasn't it?!" Jake growled in anger. What monster would do this to his own daughter. "When I get my hands on him-" His threat was interupted by Mike, who was searching the room amd closets for red stuff, by Fin's command.

"Uh... I found a dude in his boxers and a muscle shirt. Anyone you know?" He said as he pulled out an unconscious man from a closet. Fin and Jake looked in shock. It was Hudson Abadeer himself.

"Wait... If it wasn't Hudson, then-" Suddenly, their whole world, as well as the house, got turned upside down. Two dark masses burst into the windows and wrapped themselves around Fin, Jake, and the unconscious Hudson, and Mike and Marceline. The gang was slowly brought forward to a familiar, demonic sight. It was the avatar of whomever wire the dark necklace. Except... there was one discerning feature that gave away the true identity of the wielder. It was a set of iconic silver locks of hair going down his forehead and shoulders.

"Ash! You monster!" Fin shouted in a fit of rage so powerful his face was turning red. His spiteful comment only earned him a laugh from the deranged Ash. "Grr! Why are you even doing this?!" Again, the only thing Ash did was laugh but this time, he tossed the gang on opposite sides of the judgment room with Mike and marceline on one side, and Fin, Jake, and still-asleep Hudson on the other.

"Why?!" the distorted and demonic voice of Ash bellowed. "I'll tell ya why. See, I knew I could never trick Marceline into loving me again, so I decided to make a plan forcing her to love me! All it took was a bit of unconsciousness magic and her unrealized thirst to connect with her dad and she was my puppet!" He laughed again, his soul sack jiggling as he bellowed. "She even gave up eating entirely just because I said so! And after she was weakened enough, I took Hudson's amulet to insure I maintained my power over her." Fin growled and stood up, readying his sword.

"I'll kill you!" Fin shouted.

"I am immortal, boy, even without the amulet. You don't stand a chance against me!" Ignoring this, Fin lunged at Ash and battled with him. Meanwhile, Mike, once be was thrown, grabbed Marceline and used himself as a shield against the blow of being thrown on the floor by Ash. This left Marceline unharmed, but gave Mike a petty bad cut. Mike looked at his bloody band, then to Ash and Fin, then to Marceline. Mike didn't know a whole lot about the situation he was in, but he knew they didn't stand a snowballs chance against Ash with that necklace on. Mike saw that Ash was smart enough to shield the amulet from harm. Mike watched as Fin tried desperately to get at the amulet, but his sword just wasn't doing it for him. Mike took one more look at his bloody hand as a plan formed in his head. Meanwhile, Fin was hacking and slashing at Ash, trying to get at the amulet, but just as soon as he made a cut, his clothes repaired right over the amulet. He realized he was locked in an endless battle that he wasn't sure he was gonna win. But then, in just mere moments, someone lept off of his shoulders and right at Ash. Fin recognized the glint of a weapon as Mike's scythe. Mike, wielding his weapon. drove it deep into Ash's head and his weight allowed him to glide downward, slicing Ash open in the process. Like scissor going through paper, Mike slid down all the way until Ash was properly cut in half with the amulet exposed. Fin wondered how this was possible, until he realized the curve of the scythe prevented the blade from being pushed out as easily by Ash's magic, causing the added damage to take longer to repair. However, Mike wouldn't he fast enough to grab the amulet in time for Ash's wounds to heal... but someone else was. In the blink of an eye, a flash of black lunged at Ash and tore the amulet free from his body. The dark magic followed the amulet and rendered Ash back to his normal self, albeit unconscious. The battle was over, they had won. Fin, in total shock, slowly looked around and was shocked at what he saw.


	5. The undead treaty

_A/N happy new hear everybody! Enjoy the new chapter!_

**Chapter 5: The undead treaty**

Fin gasped.

"Marceline!" He shouted out as he rushed over to her. She still looked sickly, but she was far better looking than she was before. She also had that dark amulet in her hands, safely out of Ash's reach. "Marceline... How are you...?" Fin said in shock. Fin then hear chuckling, albeit sort of weak.

"That would be me." Fin turned and saw Mike, who was holding a cloth to his bloody arm. Fin looked at Marceline, then to Mike, then back to Marceline, then Mike.

"You... you didn't."

"I did." Jake, who had awoken a few moments ago, shouted in panic.

"You're gonna turn into a vampire dude!" Mike waved him off.

"Nah. I know my vampires well. My arm was already bleeding. I just used my scythe to make a steady stream into her mouth. No big succ, no compromised blood." Mike smirked.

"Wow... That was... Pretty smart." Jake admitted. Marceline suddenly burped in a very non-feminine way.

"I'll say, it saved your sorry butts didn't it?" She laughed a bit then promptly fell on her butt. "Woah... Head rush..." Fin came to her aid. Marceline pointed him to Ash, who had the key to her stash of red stuff. After taking the key, and giving Ash a good kick to the gut, he gave Marceline her stash of red and she slowly drunk on it. "Ah... Thanks Fin. And uh... you... guy?"

"Name's Michael but call me Mike." He replied.

"I'll call you snack because you were delicious." She said with a toothy grin.

"You flatter me." He said with a smirk. Marceline giggled.

"I like him."

"Charmed." Mike walked over to Fin and elbowed his side gently. "Careful Fin, she got a taste of human, and she's lookin' hungry." Mike added with a wink. Fin blushed and gulped while Marceline laughed. After that ordeal, the group revived Hudson and locked Ash up until they decided what to do with him.

"So, to what do I owe the honor of this rescue eh?" Hudson said as he looked at Fin, Jake, and Mike. "Ah, my little girl's adorable friends! It's been awhile. And a new face? Interesting. Pleasantries aside, lets get down to business. You saved my sorry hide and my daughter's as well."

"Daaaad." Marceline said with a groan.

"How can I ever repay you?"

"A hero never needs rewarded!" Fin exclaimed proudly.

"Not eating our soul would be good." Jake added, still a bit afraid of Hudson.

"We would like you to look at these though." Fin said as be made Jake give Hudson a paper. The demon lord looked over the paper for a moment then laughed.

"Ah, my little girl's little girlfriend needs help eh? Count me in." Marceline blushed madly.

"Dad!"

"Besides, imagine the souls... Mmm..." Hudson licked his lips.

"So... I'll take that as a yes then..." Fin looked around awkwardly for a moment. "Hey, I just realized we're making great time, we hit two kingdoms and under a day." Fin smiled.

"About that. time works differently in the nightosphere. You probably spent like three days here." Hudson said. Fin's eyes shot open in shock.

"Three days! Oh Glob!"

"Ah, before you go, I'm sure Marceline would enjoy going on your little adventure as well. She's spent more than enough time here and the fresh air will do her some good."

"You sure, dad?" Marceline replied.

"Of course. Besides..." Hudson's face went demonic. "You don't want to know what I'm going to do to Ash." His face returned to normal and he smiled.

"Uh... Yea... Ok... Bye dad."

"By sweetie." With that, Hudson made a portal and expelled the gang back into Ooo. It was the middle of the night, much to Marceline's relief.

"Well... that happened. Thanks again for saving my skin, guys."

"Honestly, it was more Mike than me. I wasn't even making a dent in Ash." Fin said.

"Yea... I didn't know you could fight." Jake said, knowing how the fight went because he was told.

"Why would I carry this thing if I didn't plan to use it?"

"I dunno. I thought it was just for show. It's basically farming equipment after all."

"It got the job done didn't it?"

Wait a sec, Marceline, why aren't you bothered by the fact Mike's a human?" Marceline shrugged.

"Honestly, I've seen weirder things." Marceline then hovered over to Jake, who cowered over so slightly. "So, where to next, dog?" She said with a grin. With shakey fingers, Jake handed the papers to Fin.

"Ok, next stop is..." Fin glanced at the next paper and it was now his turn to fall silent. Jake raised an eyebrow and took the paper. He read the paper and understood Fin's silence.

"The fire kingdom... Ouch Fin." Jake said as he consoled Fin.

"Ice, undeath, fire, bubblegum. This place gets weirder and weirder." Mike said with a laugh. "I love it." Marcilne chuckled a bit.

"It's about to get a whole lot weirder once you see Fin's lady game."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, Fin used to date the current princess of the fire kingdom."


	6. Temperature rising

_A/N Hello! Enjoy the chapter!_

**Chapter 6: ****Temperature rising**

The small group of hero's began their journey to the flame kingdom. Fin was dreading it a bit, he still felt a little awkward around Phoebe. Of course, who wouldn't be after what he did? True, he apologized and tried to make amends, but the emotional damage was hard to erase, and he feels that she may never truly forgive him, but he took solace in knowing that this wasn't a simple social call and that it was royal business. As he thought about the last and his ex, Jake and Marceline informed Mike of what they could about the flame kingdom. Marceline was of course biased agaisnt the flame kingdom because of the fire, so it was up to Jake to set certain records straight. He told Mike about how the old king was a scumbag and the new ruler, flame princess, was much better at the job than her father.

"Where is the old king these days?" Mike asked. Jake shrugged.

"Locked up in the dungeons as far as I can tell. All I know is he isn't bothering anyone for awhile."

"Ok then. Hmm... Flame kingdom right? Are we kinda... ya know? Flammable?"

"Oh, it's smoldering down there, for sure. But for the most part its bearable, it shouldn't kill you if you just walk in."

"Shouldn't?"

"Meh. Besides, we know a guy who can help. He hangs around here sometimes. Hmm..." Jake searched the area for a few moments. But Fin, who wasn't paying attention to where he was walking, accidentally found the little hiding rock their contact usually found himself.

"Wah!" Fin yelped as he fell to the ground on his face. He stood up and dusted himself off, but was confronted by a funny little flame elemental."

"What's tha matter with ya?! Why you gotta kick my home like that?" Flambo asked.

"Oh. Sorry dude. I wasn't watching where I was going."

"Hmm..." Flambo stroked his chin for a moment. "I guess I can forgive ya's just this once. Now what can I do for ya?" He asked

"I need you to cast flame shield on us. We're heading into the flame kingdom." Jake answered. Flambo crossed his arms.

"What do I get outta this deal eh?" At this moment, Marceline floated over to the tiny flame and looked him dead in the eye.

"What you get, little dude..." She then put on her scary face and screamed at Flambo. "You don't die!" The elemental cowered in fear and agreed quickly. Marceline went back to normal and smiled. Flambo, still shaking, did the Incantation and blessed them with flame shield. Their bodies turned a nice shade of blue.

"Thanks Flambo." Fin said. Flambo grumbled a bit and went back under his rock. As the group approached the flame kingdom, Fin looked at Marceline and asked her if she would really hurt him.

"Hurt him? Pshh! Nah. He wouldn't be worth it."

"Oh..." Fin replied as they continued on.

"So..." Mike said. "This is the flame kingdom?" He said as he looked upon the burning visage in front of him.

"One and only. Now lets see if FP is in." Jake said as they walked in. Fin stayed behind and rubbed his arm. Upon noticing this. Jake looked back and literally wrapped his arm around Fin and pulled him close. "C'mon dude. You can't keep living in the past. She's been real professional about it. If she had any ill will, we'd know by now."

"Yea... I guess you're-" Suddenly, the group was under siege by several flame guards who all had weapons pointed at them.

"Hmm..." Mike mumbled. "No ill will eh?"

"You're all under arrest! " A guard said.

"Why?! What did we do?!"

"Silence worm!" The guard went to strike Fin, but Mike blocked it with the flat of his blade.

"If you were smart, you wouldn't." He warned. The guard growled and went to do it again, but the lead guard stopped him.

"Save it. We were told to bring them in and that's what we'll do." The lesser guard grumbled and led the group directly to the castle.

"This must be a misunderstanding... FP knows us." Jake said to himself.

"Maybe... I dunno... I"m sure this'll all get sorted out once we-" Fin started to reply, but he was stopped by a familiar voice he wished he'd never hear again.

"Hello Fin the human." The voice said. Fin slowly shook his head.

"Flame king..." The king in question laughed as a feeling of dread set in on Fin.

"Yes, It is I. You thought you were rid of me didn't you?" He said evilly. Fin growled.

"How did you escape! And what did you do with FP!" He demanded.

"I'll answer only one: lets just say... an interested party organized my escape and allowed me to regain my thrown." Fin growled again.

"I don't care about that! Where's Flame Princess!" The flame king grinned evily again.

"You'll find out soon enough. Take them away."

"Hey! Let go of me!" Fin struggled, but him and his group were all dragged to the dungeons and tossed into a cell. Fin growled more and pull out his sword. He swung at the bars but to no avail. Jake also tried to pound the bars with a massive hammer-shaped fist but found that they withstood the blow as well.

"Dang. What's this stuff made of?" Jake asked.

"Uh... dudes?" Marceline said. They turned to her.

"What?"

"Come look what me and Snacc found." The boys raised their eyebrow but went up to Marceline and Mike anyway. Fin saw an unconscious body lying in the corner all alone. At first, he thought it was someone else Flame King captured, but it wasn't just any citizen of Ooo. Fin's eyes widened in horror. It was a fellow Flame kingdom resident, but their flame was burning so low he thought they were someone else. But moreso than that, he knew this flame person. He rushed over to the figure and held them in his arms. They were slightly warm to the touch, but this was near lethal to a flame person. Fin shook his head and tried to awaken the person.

"Come on... Wake up! Wake up!" He shook them lightly. "Wake up Phoebe!"


	7. Raging hellfire

_A/N Enjoy the chapter!_

**Chapter 7: Raging hellfire**

"Wake up Phoebe!" Fin said again. "Oh man! Oh jeez! Does anyone have any wood?! Any kind of fire?!" He said in a panic. He held her close in hopes his body heat would heal her It didn't, of course, but that didn't stop him from trying.

"Fin, be careful! She doesn't look too god and doesn't need to be jostled around so much!" Marceline said. Fin was about to retort, but the quiet groan from the girl in his arms stopped them.

"I... I'm alright... Guys..." She said slowly. Her voice was barely above a whisper.

"No you're not FP. We need to get you somewhere. Now."

"But how? We're trapped in here and nothing can break those bars!" Jake replied.

"Hmm..." Mike grumbled as he stroked his chin. He twirled his scythe a bit before gripping it and slashing at the bars twice. A few moments passed before several segments of bars fell to the ground with a clatter, allowing them to escape. The others were speechless. "What?" He said with a cocked head and a grin.

"How did you... the bars... Even my sword couldn't scratch them." Fin said in awe. Mike looked at his scythe and poked the tip of it then shrugged.

"I suppose you could say its made of sterner stuff. But anyway, instead of looking a gift horse in the mouth, we should probably go before the guards get here." Fin nodded. His words were true, but as he glanced at Jake and Marceline, he knew they were all thinking the same thing: Just who exactly is he? Nevertheless, Fin collected FP and they all snuck out of their cage. Mike lead the way while Jake stood a few feet behind him, giving him directions and providing side support in case they get attacked from the sides while Marceline stayed back with Fin to help in case they get attacked from behind. It was a great strategy and they were doing great in terms of sneaking past the guards. However, they realized that in order to escape, they had to go through the main hall/throne room. They glanced around but surprisingly, they didn't see anyone.

"This doesn't feel right..." Jake mumbled.

"Yea... You guys stay back. Just in case." Mike slowly walked into the massive room and looked around. He took a few steps. then a few more. "Hmm... everything seems ok guys-" No sooner had the words left his lips, a giant glass dome dropped down and encased him. "Hmm..."

"Hahaha! You fools!" An evil laugh bellowed from the shadows. Fin and the others looked in horror as Flame king, as well as several guards came out from hiding. "I don't know how you escape your cell, but don't think I didn't anticipate it." Fin gently put FP down. Fin drew his sword but FK's next words stopped him. "Come one step closer and I'll incinerate your friend until he's nothing but ash and glass."

"Wha...?" Fin started. FK knew he had them in the ropes.

"Take a look child. Your friend is encased in the strongest known glass in Ooo. It was created by a special kind of lava by very skilled glassworkers." FK grinned and thunked his knuckle on the glass. "This glass has a special attribute that traps heat, causing it to get hotter and hotter until the very air itself becomes a flaming inferno." He smirked. "Shame it had to come to this, I half expected at least one of you to at least bruise someone. But I guess that-" Much to FK's surprise, he was interrupted by... laughter, of all things. He slowly looked in the direction of his dome and saw Mike in a laughing fit.

"Ahahaha! Oh that's rich! A real knee-slapper. Ah... But you see, if I wanted to hurt anyone..." Mike instantly composed himself and stared directly at FK with the most sinister smile anyone in the room had ever seen. It was enough to make even the Flame King himself feel a shiver down his spine. "I. Would. Have. Done. So. Already." FK stared at him for a few moments. After the shock wore off, he glared at him.

"Scorch him! Make sure that not even his ashes are left!" He commanded his men.

"No!" Fin yelled out, but he couldn't do anything if he tried. Oil was poured into the dome and was set alight by one of the guards. Flame instantly filled the dome and engulfed Mike, who quickly ignited and started screaming out. FK watched with a sickening grin as flames consumed the boy.

"You're insane!" Jake said as he watched in horror. Fin screamed and rushed to the glass, but was stopped by Marceline.

"LET GO OF ME!" He screamed. But Marceline had a sad look on her face and shook her head. The depth of the situation hit him like a tidal wave. Even if he could break the glass... there wouldn't be much to save if he did... "No... no... no..." He repeated those words over and over. The flames continued to rise and engulfed Mike more. He slammed his fists agaisnt the glass in a hopeless attempt to escape. But there was no hope. There was no escape. The last thing they saw of Mike was his hand sliding down the glass before it was consumed by the blaze.

"Good... excellent... Guards, get them and take them away. I think our friend here made a fine example for them.

"I'll kill you!" Fin threatened as he was grabbed by the guards.

"I'd like to see you try kid... I'd like to see you-" The flames, the talking, the crying, it was quickly drowned out by a low, deep grumbling. Everyone looked around but could not find it. The low grumbling slowly got louder and louder and its source was easier to pinpoint. Everyone slowly looked in its direction.

"No..." Fin said.

"Its not possible..." FK added. The noise was coming from the dome, still full to the brim with flame. The low grumbling got loud enough for them to realize... that it was chuckling. Deep... low... chuckling. A hand slowly appeared on the glass. The index finger of the hand tapped the glass, almost impatiently. Then, much to everyone's surprise, a face was seen in the flames. A grinning face. Mike's face.

"Now... You've really... pissed... me... off." Mike reared his fist back and drove it into the glass. Nothing happened at first. But then... the smallest of cracks began to form where the impact landed.

"No..." FK said as the small crack slowly grew. "It's not possible... its just not possible." But it was. It was happening before his very eyes. The cracks grew until the entire dome was filled with them. Mike then grinned again and reared his fist back once more and slammed it into the glass. The dome shattered into a million pieces all around the room and the encased flames burst out. Fin, Marceline, and Jake managed to survive by ducking behind a nearby tapestry that was flame retardant for obvious reasons. When the proverbial smoke cleared, all that stood in the center of the room was Flame King... and Mike, without even so much as a scratch on him. "What... are you?!" FK demanded as he readied his sword. Mike smirked and twirled his scythe around.

"I'm the stuff your nightmares are made of. But more importantly..." Mike said. "I'm a distraction." FK cocked his head

"A distraction? From what?" He asked. Mike pointed a finger to the corner of the room.

"From her." FK looked but as soon as he did, a powerful blast of flame knocked him off his feet and shredded his armor from his body. He groaned and looked at his attacker. It was Flame Princess. Fully restored, and very angry.

"You're lucky, _father." _She said with venom. "You wouldn't he alive right now if that armor wasn't on you." She added as she walked over to him. FK looked and saw his sword was just a few feet away. He crawled towards it and wrapped his hands around the hilt. But just as soon as he did, a blade pierced his hand, causing him to bellow in pain and release the weapon. He groaned and looked up to see Mike with his scythe buried deep into his hand and a grin on his face.

"Not so fast. I believe your daughter has some plans for you." Mike kicked the sword away and pulled his scythe out of his hand. He nodded to FP, who nodded back and descended upon her father. Mike walked over to Fin and the others and smiled. "I knew that flame blast would be enough to get her back on her feet. I'd say this all went according to plan, right?" Mike smiled at the others, who could only stare at him in complete and utter shock. "What?" Mike asked.


	8. Friendly interrogations

_A/N Enjoy the chapter!_

**Chapter 8: ****Friendly interrogations **

"What?" Mike asked. The others simply continued to stand there, completely flabbergasted. "Hmm... Oddballs." He said. Marceline narrowed her eyes at him.

"You're the oddball! You should have died in that flaming dome, but here you are completely untouched! Hell, you still have your clothes too!"

"Meh. No big deal." Mike replied with a slight wave.

"NO BIG DEAL?!" Jake replied, clearly distraught by Mike's nonchalance. Mike went to reply, but Phoebe, who finished with her father and had him firmly secured in a prison he'd never escape from again, stared Mike down.

"Jake's right, you owe us some answers."

"And I'll spill everything you want to know, you just gotta take a look at these papers first." Mike pointed to Jake, who was confused for a second, but then realized what he meant. He pulled the fire treaty out from his body and gave it to Phoebe. She glanced at the papers and grumbled a bit.

"Princess bubblegum..." She groaned and shook her head. It was then that she saw her champion; cinnamon bun. "There you are! I've been so worried about you!" She explained. Cinnamon bun explained now he was being kept elsewhere in the dungeons. His appearance ensured he wasn't executed because he wasn't seen as a threat. Phoebe stroked her chin in thought, then made an announcement. "People of the flame kingdom! until further notice, cinnamon bun shall be the ruler until I get back!" Fin's eyes widened a bit.

"FP, what are you doing?" He asked. She looked back at him as she grabbed her armor and sword.

"I'm coming with you. There's more to this whole thing that what's being let on. My scouts told me about how PB has been getting strange visitations from that mystery guy. My dad overtaking me under the instructions of a mysterious backer, then another human comes to Ooo who's more than he lets on." She glanced at Mike, who was admiring the decor.

"Hmm? You talking to me?" He asked. She grumbled.

"You. You're gonna tell us everything we want to know, got it?" She said with authority. Mike shrugged.

"Sure. Whatever floats your boat." Phoebe shook her head.

"Flame Princess... are you sure you should come? It could be dangerous." Fin said but Flame princess shot him down.

"Really Fin? After all we went though you think I'm gonna cower behind my throne at the first sign of danger?" Fin went small and blushed in embarrassment. "I'm coming and that's that." She finished.

"So we're going then? Good. This heat is starting to get to me." Marceline said as she wiped her brow and gave Jake the hungry eyes, which made hin cower in fear. She laughed as they all headed out.

Later

They made camp in the middle of the Ooo wilderness. It was nice and peaceful. Everyone was exhausted from all the walking, but nobody was tired yet. Now was a good a time as any to get some answers.

"Michael." Phoebe stated.

"Hmm... so formal. What do you want?" He replied with a grin.

"It's time you answered some questions."

"Ask away. I got nothing to hide."

"How did you survive my father's trap?" Mike paused for a second.

"I have a few things to hide." Phoebe frowned, but Mike laughed. "I'm joking, I'm joking. But honestly, there's no easy way to answer that question. It's not so much I _survived _it's more the fact that I _didn't die._" They looked at him, confused.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jake asked.

"That, is a good question. But it's one that'll have to wait. I promise I'll answer it, just not at this time. Next question?" Phoebe grumbled at him for evading the question, but seeing as there was no getting a straight answer out of him, she decided on another question, but Fin beat her to it.

"That weapon of yours, It broke through the bars in our cage like it was butter." Mike twirled the item in question a bit.

"This thing? It's... well, I made it a while ago. It's... very close to me, it means a lot to me."

"But how did you get it?"

"I didn't _get _it. I _made _it."

"How?"

"It wasn't easy, if that's what you're asking. It's a long, painful process requiring hours of work and dedication, blood, sweat, tears, and soul." Mike chuckled. "Does that answer your question?"

"I guess so..." Fin said. Jake raised his hand.

"I got a question." He said. "Where's your family?" Mike's smile wavered a bit.

"Well... I don't really wanna talk about it right now but... they're not... here. In Ooo, at least."

"Oh... sorry man, i didn't mean anything..." He said. He didn't know if they were dead or had a falling out, or something else. He wasn't going to ask. Marceline stroked her chin.

"That smile... That dang smile. I haven't seen you frown a bit since i met you, even talking about your family made it waver, but you still kept smiling." She asked.

"Well, why shouldn't I be smiling? The land is beautiful, the people are colorful, and I got good feelings in my chest." He replied.

"Hmm... Wait a sec... Why are you even here in Ooo? what brought you here?" Mike's smile widened even more.

"Now that... is the golden question." He said. "I came to Ooo searching for someone. And I swear, I know, I can feel it in my bones, I'm gonna find them. And all will be right in the world." He finished.

"Who... are you looking for?" Fin asked. Mike smirked.

"That's for me to know, and for the rest of you to find out." Phoebe grumbled.

"I'm not gonna lie. I'm a little disappointed in your answers but... You seem trustworthy, not an enemy at least. I get the feeling that more will be made apparent later. So we should probably get some sleep so we can be ready for tomorrow." They all nodded in agreement. They lost a lot of time in the flame kingdom and only had a three days left to get to the other kingdoms. Fin stayed up for a few more moments and looked up into the night sky. He had a feeling in his gut that this was just the beginnings of their adventure, and that it was gonna get a whole lot more interesting.


	9. Help one another in times of sickness

_A/N Enjoy the chapter!_

**Chapter 9: Help one another in times of sickness**

The gang was off to the other kingdoms of the land of Ooo to give the war summons to each perspective leader. Most kingdoms gladly offered their aid, Others owed a debt to PB anyway and sent their aid as well. A few kingdoms wanted to lend their aid, but they we're too small, in terms of population and physical size, to offer any support. But for the most part, everyone did what they could to help PB. Until the wheel of their journey turned onto Earldomof lemongrab.

"Eh... do we really gotta go here?" Jake asked. Fin nodded.

"Princess bubblegum said she needed the aid of every kingdom. Besides, he helped us in the gum war and helped us defeat GOLB."

"I guess so... Come to think of it, we haven't heard from him in awhile. Wonder what he's been up to." Fin shrugged and the gang walked across the bridge to the kingdom, which was moved back to its original spot some time after being moved by Lemonjon. But something felt... off. The normal creamy-orange sky around the Earldom was toned down to a grim gray and a feeling of impending doom loomed over them.

"I got a bad feeling about this you guys." Marceline said. They looked at her in shock. Her of all people would be the first to jump head-first into danger, but when she said to take caution, they listened. They knocked on the big doors to enter the Earldom, but no one answered. They glanced at each other for a few moments before pushing the massive doors open. The outer portion of the city was desolate and empty. There wasnt a soul in sight.

"Where is everybody?" FP asked nobody in particular. They all inched their way closer to the castle, all the while never seeing anyone. Moments before they thought the entire Earldom was abandoned, they saw lights in the castle as well as quiet voices. They walked up the castle and knocked. The door slowly opened, but it wasn't a lemon person who answered. Instead, it was Doctor Princess.

"Fin? Jake? Friends? What are you guys doing here?" She asked them.

"We're here looking for Lemongrab... Wait, what are you doing here?" Fin asked. DP looked from side to side then hung her head.

"Here... put these on. "She gave everyone a surgical mask. They looked at her quizzically. "I don't know if it spreads yet..." She mumbled.

"Huh? If what spreads? DP?" She didn't answer them. She only instructed them on how to properly put on the masks and went into the castle. Without having much choice, they put the masks on and followed her. What lie inside was a truly depressing sight. Dozens of lemon people were in the various rooms and hallways and generally anywhere space was available. Everyone looked so ill, the sounds of coughing and labored breathing filled the air and their skin was a dull pyrite color. There was young, old, men, women, boys and girls. None seemed to be free of whatever ills there were here.

"Oh no... what happened here?" Jake asked as he tore his eyes away from a small child crying and holding the hand of someone who he guessed was their mother.

"I have no idea at all..." DP said with shame. "I got a letter from Lemongrab saying his people were sick. I came here expecting stuffy noses and colds... not a complete outbreak."

"Where is Lemongrab?" Fin asked. DP pointed at Lemongrab's throne. Fin and Jake saw a nearly completely withered Lemongrab looking around the room.

"He hasn't slept since I came here... He barely eats the soups I give him... He keeps telling me others need it more..." She said.

"No way... Lemongrab didn't say that."

"That's what I thought at first too. A selfish Lemongrab but... I think... I think this changed him... This illness... seeing his subjects suffer..." She shook her head sadly and wiped away a tear.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Fin asked. DP looked around the room at the sick and groaning lemon people.

"I can't leave these guys without some kind of aid... they're all on the brink and its taking everything I have to keep them that way."

"Alright, but what can we do?"

"Hmm..." DP thought for a few moments. "I have an idea. But it's dangerous. This plague... it isn't natural. No normal remedy is gonna heal these people. I need something stronger but... the only place I can get it is on the very fringes of Ooo, in the dead city."

"The dead city...?" FP asked.

"Yea, Me and Fin went near there awhile ago to collect samples or something. But we never actually went into the city. PB said it was too dangerous."

"That's exactly where I need you to go though... In the center of the city is a building and in that building is a basement that housed an ancient artifact capable of curing almost anything. I found this out a few years ago by an adventurer but I could never assemble the manpower to have anyone go get it But now... The lives of all these people depend on that artifact." Just then, Lemongrab himself walked from his throne over to the group.

"Fin. Jake. I need your help dearly. If you do this, you can have all the manpower the Earldom has to offer." He said.

"Wait, how do you know about-" Jake began, but Lemongrab cut him off.

"I know all the goings-on at mothers place and I know of her plight. I was growing my army in preparations to help her just before this sickness hit us." The group looked at one another and nodded. Lemongrab nodded back thankfully and went back to his vigil. DP gave Fin a keycard that would unlock the building and wished them luck. The group said their goodbyes quickly and began their journey.

"Somethings not right..." Marceline mumbled.

"What do you mean?" Fin asked.

"PB getting harassed... Ash getting the stones to take my dad and me on... PB's dad escaping prison... now this plague."

"What are you saying?"

"I don't really know... All I _do _know... is that we should be very careful."


	10. The dead city

_A/N Enjoy the chapter!_

**Chapter 10: The dead city**

The group trekked through muggy swamp lands, perilous mountains, scorching deserts, and one very pleasant meadow. They were willing to go through all of it just to get to their final destination: The ancient city. Having just left the sandy dunes just on the outskirts of the city, they took this time to rest before heading in. They changed clothes, washed up, and beat the sand out of their shoes.

"Interesting thing; these old cities." Mike mentioned.

"Why do you say that?" Jake replied.

"Well, you can see it from here." Mike pointed at the ruins in the near distance. "Built such a long time ago yet still standing. Humans were the pillar of ingenuity."

"True, but that will also mean any denizens will have plenty of places to hide." FP said.

"So that means stay on your guard everyone. Stay close and don't wander off." Fin replied. The others nodded and stood once they were rested. "Ready?" He asked. The others nodded once more and off they went. It wasn't long before they abandoned the sandy desert and entered the proverbial concrete jungle. More jungle than concrete these days though. Massive floral overgrowths covered nearly every building that wasn't reduced to a pile of stone and metal over the years. The vines and other plant life was probably the reason most of these buildings were still standing: the plants acting like an eternal glue, keeping them together.

"Wow... It's been so long since I've been to a city. I'm guessing they all looked alike, or at least very similar." Marceline said.

"Correct. At least, in most parts of the old world. Building construction varied based on who and where they were built, but the principles were the same." Mike replied.

"Know-it-all." She retorted.

"I try." Marceline laughed a bit as they went deeper into the city. All was quiet for the most part, but nobody assumed that the silence meant they were safe. They stuck close to each other and didn't stray far from their goal. They looked for the tallest building, which wasn't hard considering a good chunk of buildings were either totally gone or half destroyed. However, the building they were looking for seemed the most intact, which was good. Mike told them since it was made of an old world metal, something called 'stainless steel' kept it standing tall and proud, even after all this time. Unfortunately, due to the aforementioned fallen buildings, it would take some time to navigate their way to it. They figured it would take at least a day or two to get what they needed and return to the Earldom. They decided not to waste time. They inched their way ever closer to the medical building Doctor Princess mentioned by cutting through the larger chunks of debris and by going through the more stable ancient stores. There was a constant eerie feeling and a looming sense of dread hanging over them. However, this was not due to ancient bones and general sense of death; point of fact, there were no bodies anywhere, ancient or recent. This absence made them wonder: Where is everybody? Every creak and crack made them freeze and listen, only for them to rationalize that it was just the old buildings adjusting. The stress and overall tense feeling left them all very on edge and stressed and took frequent rests while they could.

"Can't believe adventurers would come here willingly..." Fin mumbled quietly.

"I'd be caught dead here alone, at least we're a group, right?" Everyone agreed, except Mike, who was staring at something. "Uh... Mike?" He poked Mike's shoulder, which got his attention.

"Huh? Oh, yea. I agree. Sorry, I was just looking at these old buildings and all the old signs. Like that one." He pointed to a sign that had withstood the test of time. It was a big metal sign that was bolted in with rivets to the side of what used to be some sort of store. The text on the sign read 'Aunty Dee's treats and nuts'. "Hmm... I get the feeling this store got made fun of a lot back then..."

"What makes you say-" All of a sudden, the ancient bolts pinning the sign to the building gave way at that very moment and smashed into the ground the sound of rusty metal on concrete sounded like a massive bomb to them. They all froze and assumed the worst. After a few minutes of nothing happening, they breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well, that could have gone worse-" Suddenly, the ground below them cracked as the impact of the sign finally revealed itself. The old concrete reduced to chunks of rock and dust under them and swallowed Mike, Jake, and FP into the ancient sewer system. However, Fin and Marceline were fortunate enough to get to stable ground in time.

"Oh my Glob! You guys! Are you ok?!" He yelled down at them, hoping to get an answer.

"Yea, we're good!" Jake said from below. Fin breathed a sigh of relief. "Mike broke our fall!" Fin then heard Mike groan a bit from the pit.

"Uh... Is he ok?"

"I'm good... I think." Fin heard Mike reply.

"Any way you guys can get up here?!" Fin heard Jake grunt and FP blast at the rubble, but it didn't budge.

"No dice man! But there looks like a map of the sewers down here with us! There's a path leading the the medical building! Meet us there!" Fin didn't like the idea of splitting up, but the noise probably woke up all the freaks that may or may not be in the city, and he wasn't about to take the chance.

"Ok! Be safe you guys!" He said.

"Always bro! And same to you and Marceline!" Jake shouted back. Fin sighed and stood up then looked at Marceline.

"They'll be ok man. You know Jake can take care of himself, same with FP. And Honestly... if something can take down the other guy, I'll eat my own guitar." She said with a smile. Fin chuckled.

"Yea... He's an intereting one." She nodded. As they left the scene of the incident, so too did the trio under the ground. Jake took the map off the wall and made their way through the dark sewers using FP as light.

"C'mon guys. Imagine the look on their faces when we beat them there!" Jake said to lighten the mood. FP and Mike smiled as they began to traverse the dark undergrounds.


	11. What lies beneath

_A/N Enjoy the chapter!_

**Chapter 11: What lies beneath**

"Huh... That's unfortunate." Jake said as he glanced at the map, then to the path in front of him. The map showed a fork in the road, but there was only one path in front of him. "I think we took a wrong turn somewhere."

"You mean we're lost." FP grumbled.

"No, I know exactly where we are. Just uh... let me get my bearings..." Jake looked around and shook his head. He realized it would have been a good idea to stretch himself wherever he went to make sure they could keep track of where they were.

"Well... standing here isn't doing us any good. We should just keep moving, and you should keep eyeballing that map. Look for landmarks and whatnot to find a point of reference." Mike suggested.

"Hmm... not a bad idea..." A low grumbling noise caused them all to stop talking. Heck, it caused them to stop breathing too. They heard it again. Then again. It sounded like... breathing. Breathing of a massive creature.

"That does not sound good at all..." FP whispered as she shook her head. "It was niaeve to think that massive crashing from earlier didn't alert anything." Jake looked around at the absolute darkness, save for the flames FP gave off.

"Ok... we gotta assume this... thing, whatever it is, has lived here its whole life, so itsit's eyesight can't be good." Jake said.

"Hmm... Makes sense... That also means we gotta double our efforts to being quiet. So from now on, we shouldn't talk at all unless it's important, right?" Mike asked. The others nodded as they began to tiptoe their way through the dark, dank, pungent sewer. The way everything exactly the same, the dull grey and green made everything blend together. It was slightly nauseating, not to mention the low grumble of whatever-it-is, it was a stressful time indeed. They tried their best to push forward, the the psuedo-labyrinth made it a challenge. Every time they thought they were making progress, it just turned out they were dunning in circles or coming to a dead end. The grumbling never receded, no matter how far they seemed to get. Every now and then, wind would brush against them and cause their hair to stand on end. Well, at least for those who had hair. Suddenly, Mike had an epiphany and stopped suddenly. This caught the attention of Jake and FP, who looked at him in confusion. Mike mouthed the word,

"Wind." They cocked their heads at him. He tried to explain how a draft meant their was an opening somewhere. It was hard for them to Understand. He groaned silently and spoke in a voice that was barely a whisper. "Listen, a draft means an opening, an opening means freedom. You with me so far? So, if we travel the opposite the wind, we should find an opening." He explained.

"You sure that'll work?" FP asked.

"You got a better idea?"

"No... But how are we supposed to pinpoint where the wind is coming from?" Mike silently explained by licking his finger and holding it up. He then showed her the dry end.

"That way. Also, your hair is flowing with the wind." He pointed out. Jake frowned a bit.

"Uh... guys... You hear that?" He murmured. They listened for a moment.

"No..." FP said. Her eyes went wide as she realized what that meant. They all went still as statues. All of a sudden a foul, warm breeze rushed against their skin that was definatly not wind. It smelled of rot. Though they could not see it, they knew exactly what lay in the dark. Whatever it was, it had to have heard them. Mike looked at Jake and FP and motioned for them to walk back slowly. They nodded and did just that. They inched ever so carefully backwards trying to put as much distance between the mystery beast and themselves. However, due to walking backwards, Jake failed to see a small bottle that was just behind him. He froze, and so did the others. They paused in fear. Mike squinted at the dark but saw nothing. He waited for just a few moments more.

"DUCK!" He screamed. The others waisted no time and didn't think twice. They ducked down and just in the nick of time, for a massive set of jaws clamped down just above their heads. FP took this brief opportunity to send a blast of fire at their attacker. It struck and illuminated it. They stared for a few moments at the monstrosity in front of them. It seemed crocodile in nature, but it was grossly oversized and albino, its jaws were little more than bone and a thin layer of skin housing rows of jagged teeth. It had no eyes to speak of, just smooth skin where eyes would normally be. The fire blast had little effect on its tough skin.

"Run!" Jake commanded. They all burst in the opposite direction and the monster gave chase soon after. "What do we do?!" He asked as they ran though the sewers, the monster hot in their tails.

"I don't know! Fire didn't even phase it! You! You're strong, you fight it!" FP said as she looked at Mike.

"First of all, I'm not exactly immortal! Getting cooked alive doesn't feel good at all! I still feel a little singed!" FP grumbled and continued to run.

"We can't just run forever!"

"Watch me!" Jake replied. They all racked their brains thinking of a way to defeat or at least slow down the beast. Fire didn't work, Mike's blade was too short to reach the beast without losing a limb, and Jake's fists would be nothing more than a chew toy for that thing. Mike looked around, trying to find another angle. Weapons weren't gonna cut it, so cunning will have to do it. It was then he glanced at the ceilings. Old, cracked, and ready to come down at any moment. He grabbed a loose rock from the ground and chucked it at the roof. It did exactly what he thought it would do. The ceiling cracked and split wide open, causing loose stone and rubble to come down in small rocks, then giant chunks, then massive boulders. It crashed into the beast, slowing it down, but not taking it out. However, the roof continued to crumble, slowly burying the beast. They tried their best to stay ahead of not only the monster, but the collapsing ceiling as well. Eventually, weighed down by the massive weight of the stone, the creature collapsed in a heap of rock and rubble. Its mass caused a blockade and supported the remaining ceiling, stopping the crumbling. The trio stopped to catch their breath. Their lungs burned and their legs ached, but they were alive. More than that, the roofing that was left had a decent sized opening to the city. All they needed to do was climb the rubble.

"Good going, guy." Jake said as he patted Mike on the back.

"I gotta admit, I'm impressed." FP added as they started to climb the rubble.

"Ya know, you'd think it would have taken more to take that monster down-" No sooner had the words left Jakes lips, the massive jaws of the creature lunged through the rubble and surrounded the trio, ready to clamp down on them and end their lives. However, Mike was closer now, and he had a nice big target. He acted faster than the monster could snap its mouth shut, he glided his blade down through the lower jaw, severing it clean from its skull. It roared in pain and tried to bite them anyway, but now having a mobile upper jaw, it could do nothing but flail in pain as green ooze poured from the wound.

"I... I didn't even... see you do it..." FP said in astonishment. Mike grunted and arched his back. Several joints popped in response.

"Ugh... I'm getting slow..." He shook off the rubble and smiled at the others. "Shall we continue?" He added. They stared at him for a few moments. However, the grunting of the still-living beast caused them to quickly scramble out of the sewers and into the city above.

"Ah... sunlight... I missed you." Jake said. FP stared at Mike, though.

"What are you?" She asked. Mike looked at her and gave her a smile.

"Why, I'm only human, Phoebe." She continued to stare, but the sudden assault by an unknown assailant caused them all to scream in shock.


	12. Rooftop race

_A/N Enjoy the chapter friends!_

**Chapter 12****: Rooftop race**

Ealier

Fin and Marceline took one last look at the rubble-filled hole before continuing on their way.

"Think they'll be ok?" Marceline asked.

"Yea. I'm sure It'll be a cakewalk for them." They smiled at one another for a moment before leaving the alley and looking around at the surrounding city. It was just more of the same: derelict buildings, decayed structures, and rotten roads.

"Huh... Kinda depressing actually..." The vampire queen mumbled to herself as she ran her hands over an ancient motorcycle as memories flooded her mind. She shook her head a bit.

"Uh, You ok?" Fin asked. Marceline shook her head again, but this time with a small smile.

"Dork. You and your worry. Yea, I'm fine. Just... just give me a minute." Marceline spent a few minutes to yer own thoughts before composing herself and cracking her knuckles. "Lets get this show on the road. We gotta make it there before they do." Fin smiled and nodded. As they walked, it was almost... peaceful. Sure, the creaks and cracks of the ancient structures loomed in the distance, no birds sung, and the eery nature of the overgrowth hung over them, there was a calmness to it all. Fin wondered when was the last moment he had downtime to himself. To just rest and reflect. He had no idea, and frankly, wasn't too bothered by it. In his mind, he was a machine, built to move constantly. He would have compared himself to a shark, but that would have associated him with the ocean and he wasn't having any of that. True, he conquered his fears, but past experiences are past experiences and those can't be remedied as easily. "What're you thinking about?" He was taken a bit by surprise at the question, but answered it anyway.

"Meh. Nothing much. Just machines, sharks, and the ever present crushing depths of the ocean."

"...Weirdo." Marceline replied woth a slight shoulder punch. Fin chucked as well as Marceline, but their small episode of laughter was quickly dashed by a noise that sounded far more organic than they would have liked. The froze in their tracks and listened. They heard nothing at first, but they didn't dare move. They listened more, and listened closely. True enough, they weren't alone. There was... breathing, of one would call it that. It sounded more akin to the choked gagging of someone with sludge in their throat. Fin glanced at Marceline and slowly pulled out his sword. He tiptoed towards the noise with Marceline floating close behind. They came up to another alley from which they assumed the noise was coming from. The pressed themselves close to the wall and inched close to the edge. They then carefully peaked in the alley and beheld a small group of... things. There was three of them. They had seen these creatures before; the irradiated monsters from the pit. The zombie-like creatures were hunched over something and they looked like they were consuming it. Fin readied his sword.

"Dude!" Marceline harshly whispered. "What are you thinking?"

"There's just three of them. We can handle it."

"And what if there's more, huh? Then what?"

"We'll just have to be quiet then." Fin replied.

"Ugh..." A third 'voice' interjected. They quickly looked and saw, to no surprise of Marceline, that the creatures had heard them and was staring them right in the face. Fin let out a slight yelp and sliced it in half. It died pretty easily. The two remaining ones let out a loud growl and descended upon them, but Fin and Marceline were fast. Marceline cleaved one into pieces with her axe bass while Fin took care of the other one. It was all over in a matter of minutes and whs honestly pretty underwhelming.

"Huh. That was easy." Fin mentioned, but Marceline slapped the back of his head. He hissed in pain and rubbed it while shooting a glare at her.

"Shut up. You wanna jinx us?!" She chastised him.

"Bah! It's over. If there were more, we would have seen them by now-" Of course, no sooner had the words left his lips, more and more of the creatures oozed out from whatever hole they were hiding in. Fin gave an apologetic look to Marceline, who frowned in response at him. The creatures spotted them and wasted no time in giving chase to the juicy morsels.

"Eep!" Fin readied his sword and prepared to fight, but he quickly saw that it was for naught. More and more of them poured out of impossibly small cracks and crevasses. They had no choice but to run. But where? They came in through a one way alley, and there was no manhole to retreat to. They had no options of escape. "Unless..." Fin thought to himself. He quickly looked up and saw a decrepit fire escape attached to an old, but stable-looking building.

"No way man. That won't support our weight." Marceline said. Fin gave her a confused and almost judgmental look.

"Then fly dummy!" Fin shouted.

"...Oh yea..." She said at last. Then, wasting no more time, Fin jumped up to the rickety supports and began running up as fast as he could as Marceline floated right next to him giving him words of encouragement. However, the creatures began to ascend as Fin did and started weighing down the supports. The fire escape became wobbly and the rivets and bolts holding it onto the building began to give way. Fin had to run fast. He climbed the stairs as fast as his legs could carry him as the creature's overbearing weight began to bring down the stairs. Just as he was nearing the top, he glanced up and saw the final bits of metal holding it all together give way. Fin soon found himself in free fall. He wondered, for a moment, if this was the end, but a pair of arms wrapping themselves around him would not allow that. With a feminine grunt of effort, he found himself atop the building. He was then dropped and he rolled a bit to break the fall, but found he wasn't the only one. He looked over and saw Marcline, slightly winded, lying beside him.

"Dude..." She said. "Lay off the snacks." Fin mumbled an apologetic reply, but the cracks and crunbling of the very building they were standing on interrupted him. The sudden jostling caused by the falling of the fire escape must have been to much for the old building to bear. The whole thing was turning to dust around them and crumbling down.

"Run!" Fin shouted. Marceline didn't need to be told twice. The two bolted in the opposite direction, but soon came to a gap between the building they were on and the next. They had to jump to get to safety, and jump they did. However, the collapsing of the first building caused a domino effect to all adjacent buildings. Their eyes widened as they began to building hop from rooftop to rooftop. At the same time, they saw hundreds, if not thousands of the creatures littering the streets below, drawn to the noise. Therefore, even when the buildings stopped collapsing behind them, they ran. They ran and ran until they had no more roof to run on. Marceline looked down and saw an ancient pile of refuse and trash. Marceline told Fin to jump. After giving her a confused stare, Marceline told him to trust her, and so he did. He jumped and so did she but she used her flight abilities to cushion the fall into the trash. In the end, they only ended up with minor wounds and scratches. They stood up and dusted themselves off and looked around. Much to their surprise, they saw that they were right in front of the building they needed to be at. "Whew. Thank goodness." Fin said. He then looked at Marceline, who was staring at something. "Uh... Marceline?" Her only reply what's a Sly smirk and a finger pressed against her lips while her other and pointed at three figures in the distance. Fin saw what she was pointing at and sparked back. They both snuck up on their prey and descended upon them.


	13. The Harmacy

_A/N hello everyone! Enjoy the chapter!_

**Chapter 13: The Harmacy**

Fin and Marcline tackled their unsuspecting prey and got the reaction they wanted; Panic and fear. There was a slight tussle of rebellion but eventually, Jake figured out exactly who he was punching and biting.

"Fin? What the heck man?! I thought you were some kind of monster!" He said with a glare.

"Hehehe. Calm down bro. We were only messing. Hmm... You guys are filthy. What happened to you guys?" Fin asked. They took a few minutes exchanging stories and debating on who had it worse, but the creaking and groaning of the ancient medical building broke them from their conversation. "Well... I guess we better get this over with." Fin mumbled. The others agreed and walked up to the old double door entrance. A quick once over of the building showed that it was mostly intact, save for the top levels, which was void of the vines keeping its structure together. Fin glanced at the doors, which had a bit of overgrowth over them. He drew his sword and told everyone to stand back, which they did. He started hacking away at the vines, attempting to free the doors. Several exhausting minutes later, he managed to destroy enough foliage to open the doors wide enough for them to enter. The stepped into the med center and looked around. Phoebe's light, as well as the windows and many holes in the walls, allowed them to see a good bit of the surrounding area. They were in what looked like an old world waiting room with ancient sofa's, long-dead plants, and magazines that were little more than tissue paper at this point. In the center of the room was a large sign that once read 'pharmacy' however, the P had fallen off long ago.

"Heh... Harmacy... Funny, in a foreboding sort of way." Mike mentioned.

"Ok guys, we have no idea what's in here, so take every step carefully." Fin warned. The others nodded and began exploring the building. The ghosts of the past seemed to haunt the rooms and hallways. If Fin didn't know any better, he'd think there really was ghosts in the building! But his past experiences with ghost princess told him that she didn't have jurisdiction this far out. However, proverbial ghosts very much did haunt this place and it freaked him out. They went from room to room, but they didn't find what they were looking for. Just old beds, pill bottles filled with dust, and a few skeletons. They repeated this process floor after floor. Naturally, the elevators stopped working centuries ago. The added stress of exercise withered their spirits down, which forced them to take frequent breaks. At the higher levels, they glanced outside and saw the spectacular view of the city. Despite the age and disrepair, it was quite a sight. It was one of the silver linings in their journey so they took it where they could get it.

"Jeeze... what a cliche. How much do you wanna bet the cure is at the top-" Jake started but Marceline shut him up.

"Do not jinx us!" She seethed. "I just wanna get out of here. This olaces gives me the heeby jeebies."

"Heh... No kidding. Hmm...That's unfortunate." Mike mumbled.

"What is?" Mike pointed to the next flight of stairs, which was blocked off by rubble. However, there was another way up, but it involved them climbing outside and scaling the exposed beams and rebar. Marceline glared at Jake.

"Hey! I only said the cure would be at the top! Not this!" He defended himself.

"Either way, there's only one way up, so lets get this over with.

"Easy for you to say, we can't fly." Mike replied.

"Listen, this isn't so bad, the girls can fly and I can stretch you and Fin over-" Jake suddenly stopped talking. "Fin what are you doing?!" He screamed. Fin, who was already climbing the beams, glanced back at Jake.

"Huh? Oh, I thought we had already decided." Jake pinched the bridge of his nose. After that note, the group decided to scale the building. Truth be told, it wasn't that bad. There was plenty to hang on to and with so many people ready to catch the other, falling wasn't too bad an issue. However, there was one detail that disturbed them: There was much more foliage up here than there was at the bottom. It didn't make any sense to them at the time, but once they made it to the next floor, they found out why. This floor must have housed the greenhouse, allowing the pre-war doctors easy access to whatever plants they needed. Interestingly enough, the irrigation network seemed to have sustained the plants well after their caretakers perished. After the irrigation failed, the outdoor elements took care of them caused by the holes in the walls and ceiling. Many years later, the spores had spread across the whole city. They were looking at ground zero and birthplace of all the vines and growth in the city. It was an amazing and fascinating sight.

"Woah..." Fin said as he approached a plant. It was very colorful and vibrant. It almost looked edible and they were feeling very hungry. Fin licked his lips and reached out towards the plant.

"Fin, I wouldn't." Mike warned.

"Why not? I'm starving and this looks a lot tastier than what we packed."

"Fin, pre-war plants and animals were usually brightly colored to ward off predators." Fin shrugged

"That just sounds like baloney. If it was so pretty, wouldn't it attract more predators?" He continued reaching for the plant.

"Fin don't-" No sooner had the words left his lips, a set of leafy mandibles clamped down on Fin's hand. He screamed in pain.

"Ah! It burns!" He tugged with all his might but the plant wouldn't let go. He quickly grabbed his sword and hacked at the plant, which was just as tough as the vines below, if not tougher. However, he managed to tear open the mandibles and kill the plant before it did too much damage. He pulled his arm back and studied it. It looked slightly burned and had a bit of green slime on it. He quickly wiped it off on a nearby curtain and watched in shock as it disintegrated. At the same time, they heard the high pitched squeals of pain from an unknown creature on the floor they were on.

"That thing tried to digest you!" Jake exclaimed. Fin groaned and bandaged his wounded arm.

"It was like it was on fire..." He looked around at the surrounding plants, but instead of awe or hunger, it was dread and danger. They were not alone, and as it turned out, they were the food.


	14. Flytrap fiasco

_A/N Enjoy the chapter!_

**Chapter 14: Flytrap fiasco**

"What do we do?!" Phoebe asked.

"We kill them of course!" Jake replied as he went to punch a plant, but Fin stopped him.

"Dude! You saw what it did to my hand! Use your brain man!"

"Well, what else do we do?" He demanded. They didn't dare move, not until they had a plan. It made sense to assume that the plant could not hear or see, and seemed to only rely on physical touch to identify prey. It seemed simple: just avoid the plants. However, the almost tropical atmosphere had something akin to its own weather system. There was a dense fog covering their feet, preventing them from seeing the floor. They could easily step on one and have their feet get swallowed up or worse.

"I guess we just gotta be careful. Fin, you can use your sword to poke around at the ground in front of us, same as Mike. Me and the others can watch the walls and ceiling while you're busy with that." Marceline said to them. They thought on this for a few moments. Several things could go wrong here, but as it stood, they had no other options. So, standing side by side, Fin and Mike used their respective weapon to prod and poke at the ground in search of plants laying in wait. Mmeanwhile, Jake and the girls were diligent in scanning the rest of the room for plants clinging to the walls and whatnot. Truth be told, it was a fairly effective system. Turns out, there were plants hiding in the fog, and when they snagged on a weapon, they quickly pulled it out and sliced the plant into salad. The stress, however, quickly got to them so they took frequent breaks. On one such break, Fin glanced at another juicy fruit he saw earlier. However, he viewed this fruit more critically and noticed the jaws surrounding the fruit, ready to snap shut and digest whatever was unfortunate enough to go for the trap. Fin shivered a bit and rubbed his sore arm, but built up his strength and continued going. They cleared room after room in search of the cure, but found nothing but overtaken office cubicles, debris, and general clutter. Their search seemed fruitless up to that point, until they set eyes on the final room: RD.

"This has to be where the cure would be kept." Mike mentioned.

"What makes you say that?" Jake replied.

"RD stands for research and development. If it would be anywhere, it would be there. They used to build those kinds of rooms like fallout shelters. So the cure should be intact. If it's in there."

"There's a lot of guessing in this quest... but what other choice do we have...?" Fin asked no one in particular. "Let's go-" All of a sudden, something wrapped around Fin's leg and caused him to fall under the fog. He was then quickly dragged away into the RD room. Before anyone else could react, the exact same thing happened to them. Kicking and screaming, the group was dragged off and eventually hoisted into the air by massive sentient vines. It took them time to adjust to being upside down, but when they did, they beheld the horror that controlled the vines. In the center of the room, was an absolutely massive unit of a plant that was nearly five times the size as the others. It's massive maw opened up and a vat of acid could be seen inside, ready to render them down to protein goop. If that wasn't enough, the glint of a safe could be seen. No doubt this held the cure they were after. Ubfortunatly, they would have to deal with the plant before getting to it. Instantly, everyone tried to escape from the vines. Phoebe tried blasting her way out, but her flames weren't hot enough to burn the green, water filled plant, not to mention the wet atmosphere weakened her. Jake tried brute forcing himself free by using a massive hammer shaped fist to punch his way out, but he didn't even make a dent, it just bounced right off the plant. Bladed weapons, however, seemed to do the trick, as Fin's sword, Marceline's axe bass, and Mike's scythe made short work of the vines and releasing a pleasant freshly-cut lawn smell. They all managed to land on their feet and took a short moment to celebrate their minor victory. However, they soon saw that the plant was capable of rapid regeneration, except where one used to be, two grew in its place.

"...That's unfortunate." Mike said. They quickly realized they would need a whole team to take this thing down. They hero's that were free focused their efforts on freeing Jake and Phoebe as the hydra plant attempted to grab them again. This plant seemed more evolved than the others and seemed to be able to sense their presence. They ignored this for the time being and quickly cut their friends down. However, this more than quadrupled the amount of vines they had to deal with. However, one of them noticed a pattern... for each duplicate vine the hydra created, it seemed to weaken and slow down. They mentioned this to the others and they all realized what they had to do. It would be hard, having to fight an army of vines, but in the end it would he worth it. So, they all started hacking away at the vines, causing doubles to replace them. Those that couldn't cut, used their talents in other ways. Jake used his massive extended arms to coil around as many vines as he could so the others could chop them off in one quick slash, whereas Phoebe used her flames directly on the hydra to distract it and slow it down. It wss tough, as they thought, but they eventually managed to whittle it down until it was a barely moving pile of weeds. They took this moment to rest and celebrate their victory, but it was too soon. The hydra suddenly began quivering violently as it's support vines on the ground began to quake. The group looked back and saw the plants from before begin to wither away, sending its nutrients to the mother plant. It was then they realized it was connected to the whole city, with an entire city's worth of plants to draw strength from.

"No... This is gonna take too long." Mike mumbled to himself. He stroked his chin in thought for a moment before coming up with a completely insane plan. He scanned the area for something. He soon spotted a small pool of water, which the hydra seemed to drink from like a personal reservoir. Big and deep enough to fit a few people. Perfect. Mike quickly ran over to Fin, Jake, and Marceline and shoved them into the pool. Before they could react, Mike quickly ran back to Phoebe and open-hand slapped her in the face. She gasped in shock, but then it quickly turned to rage. Her flames glowed white hot as she grabbed ahold of Mike's shirt.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?! I'LL KILL YOU!" She prepared an attack. Mike could only smile as the inevitable happened. He knew what was coming, but he also knew this would wipe the hydra off the face of the earth. He closed his eyes and braced for the consequences of his actions.


	15. The journey back

_A/N Hello everyone! I've been thinking about upping the word count from 1k to 2k. What do you all think? Let me know please! Enjoy!_

**Chapter 15: The journey back**

In the end, only smoke and ash remained. Fin, Jake, and Marceline crawled out from the pool of water mostly unharmed. However, the high heat caused by Phoebe sent the water to near-boiling, causing the trio to have slightly reddened skin, but they were otherwise alright. They looked around and saw only charred remains of the once green room. The massive hydra lay dead in the center of the room, most of its matter had been burnt away and its roots torn apart. Thankfully, the container that housed the cure was fireproof. Fin thanked the precursors for their foresight and approached the container. But as he did, he stumbled on a lump of something. He looked down and immediately his eyes shot open wide in surprise. Lying there, weak, barely moving, was Mike. He groaned in the pain of being accidentally kicked

"Oh my glob! Mike!" He knelt beside him and nearly touched him, but his common sense kicked in. "What... How... Why?!" He demanded. The others began to crowd around him at this point as well as phoebe, who had calmed down and realized what she had done. She joined Fin, wracked with guilt.

"Mike... I'm so sorry... So sorry..." She wept a bit at his broken body.

"Eh... save it flame girl.." Mike groaned in pain as he forced himself to sit up. "You got nothing to apologize for..."

"Look at what I did to you. I did this..."

"You did... exactly what I wanted you to do." He paused and caught his breath. "I knew what I was getting into. It was the only way, and I was prepared to make that sacrafise." He said with a smile.

"How can you smile at a time like this? You're... You're gonna die man." Marceline said. At this moment, Mike's smile turned to a grin.

"Now, who said I was gonna die?" Mike groaned and began to stand, much to the other's shock. They stumbled back as Mike rose to his feet and stretched out. He arched his back and a few joints popped. But most surprisingly? His burns, which were mostly third degree and covered nearly his whole body, began to heal at an astonishing rate. "You're a heck of a lot stronger than that dome hour dad put me in, Phoebe. That's for sure." After a few minutes, Mike was looking good as if he had never got burned. He kicked away some ash and picked his scythe back up. He then turned to the dumbfounded group and smiled. "What?"

"What... are you?" Phoebe asked. Mike simply shook his head with a chuckle and patted her on the shoulder. With his bare hand. He shrugged and simply said:

"I'm only human." He walked off towards the exit, leaving them to stare at him some more.

Later

Mike began to hum a tune to himself as they left the ancient city behind. After getting to a safe distance, the group decided enough was enough and that they wanted answers. They stood in front of Mike and would not let him continue walking.

"You're not taking another step until you explain yourself." Fin demanded.

"There's nothing to explain." He replied.

"Liar! Nothing could have walked away from that blast without being reduced to cinders!"

"Not to mention surviving My dad's dome." Phoebe chimed in.

"And taking on Ash, who had the power of the amulet on his side." Marceline added.

"And how you so easily broke out of the flame prison, killed that sewer monster, and-" Jake started to say, but Fin stopped him.

"And the fact that I've been the only human in Ooo since my dad left me here" Fin stared Mike down. "Explain. Yourself. Now." Mike narrowed his eyes a bit.

"You don't get it. Nobody does. The pre war humans sure didn't either."

"Know what? What is there to know?" Mike gritted his teeth, but did not allow his smile to falter.

"Humans, are not weak." Before any more could be said, a carrier pidgeon fluttered up to them, sweating and panting heavilly.

"M-message for you! Doctor princess needs the cure urgently! The sickness has gotten worse and is at risk of spreading!" The bird said to them in a hurry.

"No..." Fin mumbled. He glanced at Mike and grumbled in frustration. "We _will _deal with thi, but after we get the cure to DP. Go back and tell her we're on our way and are coming as quick as we can." He told the bird. The bird nodded and flew back to DP. The others glanced at Mike and shook their heads a bit. They began walking back to the Earldom of Lemongrab. Mike hung back for a few moments.

"They'll understand soon..." He mumbled as he placed a hand on his chest. He felt his own heartbeat for a few moments and simply stood there, soaking everything in. He took a deep breath, held it, then exhaled. "At least I hope they do..." He shook his head and caught up with them. Their journey back was in relative silence, with only the ambience of the area around them breaking it. It took some time, but they made it back to the Earldome faster than it took for them to get to the city, and just in the nick of time it seemed. They were worn out and exhausted, but they used the rest of their energy to race into the castle and straight to Doctor Princess.


	16. Back to the candy kingdom

_A/N Hey everyone! Enjoy the chapter!_

**Chapter 16: Back to the candy kingdom**

The group rushed though the sickness-riddled streets and past the massive doors to the castle of Lemongrab. At first glance they saw that many were still ill, and didn't look like they were getting better. However, they also noticed that nobody else had perished in their absence, so they were thankful for that. They rushed straight to Doctor Princess, who was administering anything she could to at least slow down the disease. Once she spotted them, she was elated, even more so when she saw they had the cure. They wasted no time in giving it to her.

"Thank you so much you guys. Everyone was starting to lose hope... but I knew you could do it. I'll start synthesizing more of this cure immidiatly. It shouldn't take me too long." She said. They nodded and went to sit down to wait, but DP stopped them and looked at them with sadness.

"What's wrong doc?" Jake asked.

"It's... It's Lemongrab... He came down with the sickness... and he's the worse case we got... He's too weak to even move, but he told me that as soon as you guys returned, to talk to him immediately."

"Do you know why?" Fin asked. DP shook her head in response. She ushered them out of her lab so that she could work on the cure. The group then headed to Lemongrab, who was in his bedroom, stuck to his bed, almost completly lacking any pigment at all. He looked like what Marceline's snacks would look like after she sucked the color out of them, except instead of a faint salmon-colored red, it was a dull yellow. He saw them enter and weakly waived for them to come closer. They did as they were told and surrounded his bed.

"I... Have to... tell you... something..." He rasped. His voice was barely above a whisper. They had to lean in to even hear him.

"We have the cure Lemongrab. DP is working on making more cure now. Everything will be ok." Marceline explained. Lemongrab smiled a bit and nodded, but then shook his head.

"Consciousness... fading in and out... Need to tell you... now..." He said, voice getting quieter and quieter. Fin leaned in more. The others tried to as well, but there wasn't any room.

"What is it? What's so important that you need to tell us now?" Fin asked.

"I know... Who... Did this... Saw them... do it... then left... Couldnt... believe my own eyes at first... but now... I'm certain..." He murmured. Fin's eyes widened a bit.

"Who? Who did this? Who would he so sick as to do this?" Lemongrab murmured something Fin couldn't hear. "What? What did you say?" Again, Lemongrab's voice was nearly non-existant. Fin leaned right next to Lemingrab's mouth to listen.

"..." Fin's eyes widened even more. He slowly pulled away and looked as Lemongrab nodded and finally passed out.

"What did he say? Who did this?" Phoebe asked. Everyone waited expectantly for Fin to answer them. He was about to answer, but then a blueish mist spread out of a nearby vent. They watched as it filled the room and surround Lemongrab. They watched as color slowly began to fill him back up until he was his normal golden self. Then, DP walked in and explained what was happening.

"Pipes and vents run all through the Earldom. I put the cure through the ventilation systems so it'll spread faster. Everyone should be ok now. Thank you guys so much." She said with a smile, but then it faded once she saw Fin's face. "What's wrong Fin?" She asked. Again, Fin started to speak, but then he saw a clock on the wall and his blood ran cold.

"We need to get to the candy kingdom." He said.

"But-" Jake began.

"Now!" Fin shouted. They heard the urgency in his voice and didn't question him. Jake grabbed ahold of Fin and Mike and put them on his back as he grew to a giant size. He began running straight to the candy kingdom as Marceline and Phoebe flew.

"What's this all about, Fin?! What did Lemongrab say?!" Mike asked. Fin tried to explain, but the whipping wind of Jake's sheer speed made it impossible for anyone to hear him. They figured they'd get answers at the candy kingdom, which made them haste even faster

Later

Princess Bubblgum grumbled to herself as she stood over her equipment. She didn't spend her week lazing about waiting for Fin and the others to return, she tried her best to calm her people and prevent a revolt, as well as trying to figure out who was tormenting her. She was partially successful in the former, given that she managed to sway a portion of the populace back to her side. However, a good chunk of candy people still wanted her head. She felt her mysterious enemy didn't want her kingdom, not exactly. She felt they just wanted to see the world burn. And they were doing a pretty good job of it. However, the latter of her goals yealded a bit more fruit than she anticipated. She set up a device that would attempt to triangulate any odd radio signals, energies, and readings, among other things. She put pings on nearly every corner of Ooo and a bit of the surrounding areas, but got nothing in return. She grumbled a bit.

"verdammt! Where could he be?!" She rapped her fingers on her desk and huffed in frustration. She tacked down every kingdom, every doman. Every settlement and scrap of land she could think of... Except one... "No... It's not possible... they wouldn't be that crazy... would they?" She thought out loud to herself. Sue typed away at her computer for a few minutes then punched the data in. She waited while her device loaded. She didn't expect much to happen, but she sure as heck didn't expect for a ping to be right below her very castle. "What the...?" She slowly looked to the ground below her and gulped. At the same time, Fin, Jake, and the others burst into her room. Huffing and puffing, Fin managed to spill a few words.

"PB! We know who's doing this! It's-" At that same moment, all hell broke loose. The ground rumbled, columns tumbled to the ground, the floor cracked open and pieces of the ceiling began to fall. The very ground below them began to split apart. At the same time, a nearby TV turned on.

"Bonnabel, Bonnabel, Bonnabe... I gave you so many chances. Now, watch as your whole world crumbles to dust..." The mystery voice said with a sinister chuckle as the TV went to static.

"Bonnie! What's happening?!" Marceline asked with obvious panic in her voice. Before PB could answer, a pair of ghoulish hands protruded from the cracked earth and slowly raised their master. The group took a few steps back as a figure began to rise. Fin glared at the figure, for he knew who it was. Lemongrab had told him just an hour ago. He drew his sword and stood in front of his friends protectively.

"Fin?! What are you doing?!" PB asked. Before he could answer, a cold, dark, _evil _voice spoke first.

"Yes, Fin. What are you planning to do? Kill me?" A demonic laugh escaped the beings throat. "You cannot kill what is already dead child." The being stepped out of the cracked ground and stood above them in all his horrible glory. Fin glared and stared down the one, the only, The Lich.


	17. The war of Ooo part 1

_A/N Hello everybody! I hope you're all staying safe in these strange times. Anyway, I hope you like this freshly juiced chapter straight from the quarantines. Enjoy!_

**Chapter 17: ****The war of Ooo part 1**

"You... We defeated you!" Jake shouted. The Lich replied in a deep, dark laugh.

"Yes... You did. Admittedly, it was quite embarrassing to be taken down by the likes of mere mortals." He began.

"Then how are you back? It isn't possible." Princess Bubblegum said.

"Oh, it is. However, I have no interest in telling you how I returned, seeing as how you'll all be dead soon. I will, however tell you this: An... Interested party... brought me back."

"No..." Bonnie mumbled as she looked at the shattered TV. "Even they wouldn't be insane enough to..."

"That doesn't matter!" Fin shouted. He glared at the Lich. "I don't care how you came back, I'm gonna make sure you stay gone permanently this time!" The Lich gave Fin a wide, smug grin.

"Oh? And how do you plan on doing that, child?" Fin growled a bit, but before he could answer, someone came to his side

"No matter how he does it, he won't be doing it alone." Mike said with a smirk. The Lich, a bit taken aback, stared at Mike for a moment, then chuckled.

"And who are you? I see that you're human, but nothing more. A mortal. Weak." Mike grinned in response.

"Who am I? I'm nobody really. But I just wanna let you know one thing."

"What's that?" The Lich replied. Mike, again, smiled.

"I'll tell you in a bit." The Lich glared at Mike and started to approach the duo.

"Fine then. At least I'll know when you're dying breaths are near." The Lich summoned a ball of dark energy in his hand and thrusted it into the ground. Nothing happened for a few moment, but then the ground began to quake and rumble. Then, the earth below them split open and an army of bones rose up. And before their very eyes, organs, tendons, flesh and skin began covering the bones, but they were pale, with lifeless, black eyes. This was the Lich's army of the undead: every body that had fallen was now being resurrected by his dark influences. Fin gulped but stood firm, but then a placed itself on his shoulder. Fin looked at the hand and saw it belonged to his best friend; Jake.

"What Mike said. You're not doing this alone. Besides, who doesn't want bragging rights for taking down the Lich?" Jake joked. Fin smiled and noticed that Marceline, Phoebe, and Bonnabel were also at his aid. Fin smiled at them thankfully, but the small group of ten zombies doubled from a mere ten, to twenty. Then that number doubled. Bones and bodies of hero's, villains, and monsters all across the lands sprouted from the ground, thrall's of the Lich to be used for his own needs. The group huddled together as they were circled. The Lich laughed at them.

"So pathetic, to think you actually have a chance!" He bellowed. The group huddled close together. Then, an ancient warrior from long ago approached them and raised a battleaxe at them. They braced for an attack, but would never have need too, for the warrior soon became frozen in a block of ice.

"...wut?" Were the only words Fin could say. The group quickly spun around and saw none other than Ice King, flying in the air in all his majestic glory.

"Princess are meant for kidnapping! Not murdering!" He shouted as he winked at Bonnabel, who scoffed. "Guther! To arms!" IK looked back to Guther.

"Wenk." She then blew a horn, which summoned an army of penguin's who charged in and surrounded the undead legion. The Lich simply grinned.

"It'll take more than a few penguins and a washed up old man to defeat my army." He said.

"Shouldn't have jinxed yourself." A voice said from nearby. Marceline looked back and her eyes widened.

"Dad?!" She exclaimed.

"Hey sweetie. I noticed you and your little friends were in a pickle, so I gathered a few friends." Hudson Abadeer waved his hand in a gesturing motion. Everyone looked and saw portals open all across the candy kingdom and armies from all across the lands poured out. There were demons from the nightosphere, knights from the hot dog kingdom, centurions from the flame kingdom, banana guards, and countless others from all the kingdoms who agreed to the war summons and then some. Lemongrab, who made a full recovery, rode up to Hudson and the other leaders on his lemon camel.

"Brothers and sisters in arms!" He screeched. "This is the moment that will test us all! And show just how strong we truly are! Put aside our petty squabblings and join hands for a common goal! TO BATTLE!" A single tear of pride fell from Bonnabel's eye. Mike grinned as the legions of the undead clashed with the united army of Ooo.

"The only thing that can made this more awesome was a boombox playing dubstep." He said. Phoebe cocked her head.

"What's dubstep?"

"Eh... Forgetaboutit." He replied. The Lich growled angrily.

"This does nothing but delay your death's!" Fin glared back and stood his ground.

"No. This just makes kicking your butt easier!" The Lich yelled and charged at them. Fin and the others yelled and charged as well. The two opposing forces clashed in the middle. The legendary war of Ooo has officially began.


	18. The war of Ooo part 2

_A/N Hello everyone! Everything's coming to a head. How will it end? What's gonna happen? Find out soon, in this special double long chapter. Enjoy!_

**Chapter 18: The war of Ooo part 2**

The slashing and clashing of steel filled the ruined castle and the surrounding area. Warriors from both sides fought with everything they had. This was the final battle. The end game. The final deciding factor to the fate of Ooo. However, once Fin and his friends at to strike at The Lich, he simply grinned and sidestepped them.

"Foolish mortals. I have years of experience you'll never hope to achieve." He taunted. Fin sneered and charged. The Lich grinned and prepared a ball of magic in his hand, ready to meet the young boy and end his life. However, his attention was fully on Fin, allowing Phoebe to blast him in the face with a fire ball. This stumbled the undead king and disoriented him. Fin and Marceline used this to their advantage to hack and slash at him. However, The Lich was still a mighty foe in his own right, and managed to dodge the blows, recieving only cuts to his clothes. "Hmm... I will admit, your attacks are most impressive. I'll be sure to keel your heads as a reminder of your skills."

"Not gonna happen ya rotten slug!" Jake said as he slammed a massive fist into The Lich, knocking him into a wall. Then, with a battle cry, Bonnie tried entering the fray, only to be stopped by Jake. "Woah, easy there, princess. You should get to safety." Bonnie frowned and pulled something out of her lab coat and aimed it at The Lich, who had recovered and was preparing to blast them with more magic. She quickly shot her odd gun and a stange, orange colored goo spewed out. It coated The Lich and stopped his magic dead in its tracks.

"What?! What trickery is this?!" He bellowed, trying to get the goo off, to no avail. Bonnie smirked and placed a hand on her side and popped her hip cockily.

"I call it the amber launcher. Take a guess what it shoots." She stated. The Lich looked at his hand and grimaced at the infernal goo that had trapped him for nearly a millennia before. He quickly tried to dispose of them before their plan reached fruition, but they were quicker to the draw. As soon as he readied a blast, Phoebe shot it out of his hand. Fin and Marceline sliced at his legs to bring him down and allowed Bonnie to coat them in amber. "No! You will not beat me! I will not allow it!" He tried summoning his minions to his aid, but saw that, as he became encased in amber, his hold on them grew weaker. His minions became sluggish and some returned to death completly. As a last ditch effort, he readied up a more powerful spell, one that would crack the very earth. He rose his hand up and prepared to slam it into the ground. However, Fin jumped in his way and used his sword to block the blast. The Lich's eyes widened as his magic erupted before it hit its mark and blasted the boy back. Fin groaned in pain, but he was mostly bruised from the impact. He ignored this pain though, because he saw that Bonnie had reloaded her gun and was aiming it right a The Lich. Fin grinned and waived goodbye to the Lich as bonnie shot him. "NOOOOOO-" The amber covered his entire being, leaving a screaming visage to be immortalized for all time. Just then, all the thralls the lich had risen began to crumble and fall. The sounds of battle died out and was replaced by calmness.

"We... we did it..." Jake mumbled. Everyone grinned and began to cheer and celebrate their victory. The battle was over. They had won. Bonnie sighed and dropped her gun.

"Thank goodness that worked."

"How did you know the lich would return?" Phoebe asked.

"I didn't, i just have lots of contingency plans in place." Marceline gently punched Bonnie on the shoulder.

"Its a good thing you're such a smart cookie." Bonnie blushed a bit and nodded.

"Wow... that's was so easy." Phoebe mentioned.

"That's because we all worked together. We did this as a team. Right Mike?" Fin glanced at Mike, who was standing in front of the Lich's amber prison. "Uh... Mike?" Fin walked over to Mike, who was holding his scythe tightly in his hands. As if he was... waiting for something to happen. "Dude, come on. He ain't getting out of there. This is a time to celebrate." Mike didn't answer. He simply stood there, standing a vigil. It was then that Fin felt something... off. It was a dark feeling he didn't like. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. "Guys! Its not over! something's about to-" The sudden burst of amber shards erupted from the Lich. Then, loud, demonic laughter filled the room. After recovering from the shock, they focused their eyes on the Lich... but something was horribly, horribly wrong. The lich looked different. He was larger, more menacing. His horns were twice the size they normally were and weren't cracked or broken, his eyes were a blazing, evil blood-colored red. His mouth was filled with rows of jagged teeth. The pure mass of the rest of his body nearly doubled what it was and his fingers were sharpened daggers with spiraling balls of demonic magic housed within. "What the..." Was all the horrified teen could say.

"THIS! THIS IS THE TRUE POWER GRANTED TO ME! I AM UNSTOPPABLE! I AM INVINCIBLE! I! WILL! DESTROY YOU!" The Lich king bellowed and follwed this with insane laughter. Fin looked around. His friends were cowering in fear. Not that he blamed them. Fin had never seen such a horrific sight. He gripped his sword with shakey hands and gulped. But a gentle hand on his shoulder made him stop and look.

"Ready to put this guy back in the ground, Fin?" Mike said with his trademark smile. Fin gave a small smile back and rebuilt his courage. "We do what we need to do, because it needs to be done, even at the cost of our own safety. Because in the end..." He looked around at all the friends he made during his journey. He closed his eyes for a moment and seemed to be remembering something "In the end, they're all that matter." Fin smiled and nodded.

"Family. Friends. We do it for them." He replied.

"Now lets kick this zombie's ass, shall we?" They grinned at the Lich. Two hero's standing at the end of oblivion. Staring down the greatest evil they had ever fought. Two hero's weapons gleaming in the sunlight of a brand new day. They charged the lich. When suddenly..._ BOOM_

In the darkness

Fin was confused. He didn't know where he was or why. He looked around and all he saw was darkness. Darkness... Darkness... It swallowed him, engulfed him. He tried to scream but it was devoured by the nothingness. It was maddening, but then he saw a figure not too far away... It was large, hulking, and menecing. It was the lich king. Fin gripped his sword firmly and charged the lich king, who didn't move.

"Come, boy." He taunted. Fin swung, but the lich king dissapated at the last second. He looked around and saw him a few feet away. " Too slow, boy." He growled and charged again. He sliced at the Lich king but again, he dissapated and reappeared a few feet away. "You are weak" Fin sliced again. The Lich king moved again. "You are nothing." Slice. "Worthless." Slash. "You are no hero. Your friends will be cast into oblivion. They will die, and so will you. All you do is for nothing. You cannot stop me, and you cannot save your friends." Fin growled, face red with rage.

"SHUT UP!" Fin sprinted to the Lich king and lunged. This time, he didn't disappear. Fin buried his sword deep into the Lich kings chest. Nothing happened at first. Fin looked at the Lich king, who seemed frozen to the spot. But then... then a second face appeared over the Lich kings shoulder. It was another Lich king.

"Good job Fin..." The head said. "You struck true and killed your target with deadly efficiency. Shame that I wasn't the one you impaled."

"W-wha...?" Fin mumbled. The darkness started to fade away and color began to return to his world. The first thing he saw was the Lich king, but he was perfectly fine and uninjured. However... he was standing behind someone and that someone... was Mike. "No..." Fin slowly looked down at his sword. He slowly began to look up in fear of what he already knew. His hands shook violently as the Lich King laughed. Fin had ran Mike completly through with his sword. Blood poured from the wound and collected in a puddle under Mike's feet. "No... No, Mike... I... I didn't... Didn't know..." He babbled. But Mike didn't look betrayed. He didn't look scared. He simply kept the smile he always wore on his face.

"Fin... I have to tell you something..." Mike choked out, though blood.

"W-what...?"

"The reason... I came to Ooo..." He started. "Was to find someone... someone special..." He took a few deep, ragged breaths. "Someone... someone equal or greater to my own strength... I knew exactly who I was looking for... I was looking for you."

"M-me...? No... I've seen you in action... you're... well, superhuman! I'm nowhere near that..." Mike chuckled a bit.

"Well... look what you did to me... I got about... I dunno... five minutes left till I bleed out? Give or take..." Mike chuckled more but had to stop himself because made him choke on his blood. "Fin... you don't know it... But you're stronger than you can ever imagine... Wanna... wanna know why...?" Fin gulped but Mike didn't let him reply. "We're not superhuman Fin... We're just human... We're more than anyone realizes..." Fin didn't understand. But Mike still wasn't done yet. "However... I will admit... to one thing..." Fin blinked a bit as Mike rose his head up and their eyes met. Fin saw the smile finally fade from Mike's face and a look of total seriousness replaced it. "I am extremely pissed off." Before Fin could react, Mike grabbed ahold of Fin's sword by the blade. The blade shimmered and almost seemed to glow. But that wasnt the most surprising part, it was when Mike took the blade and drove it the rest of the way through his chest. He did not do this for no reason, however. Mike knew the Lich king was still behind him, and driving the blade through his chest punctured the lich king as well, causing bellows of rage and pain to erupt from the undead lord. Mike pushed Fin away, causing the sword to be finally removed from Mike. He groaned a bit but picked up his scythe. "ugh... Five minutes... More than enough time to deal with you." Mike gripped his scythe tightly and charged the Lich king. He raised his scythe high and prepared to drive it into the lich, but the lich king simply grinned. Fast as lightning, the lich used his razor sharp claws to sever Mike's left arm completly from his body. Mike looked at it in shock as it fell to the ground. Mike dropped to his knees and stared at it while the lich king laughed.

"ALL THAT BUILD UP AND FOR WHAT?!" He bellowed. Fin stared in shock. But then... at that moment... he felt something... something deep inside of him... waking up. He looked to Moke's scythe and noticed the shimmering glow that constantly followed it then looked to his sword. When Mike touched it... He picked up his sword. "YOU DARE APOSE ME, MORTAL?! YOU ARE NOTHING! I AM ETERNAL! I AM-" the Lich king was quickly shut up by a swift slap to the face. The lich king was shocked.

"That was my favorite arm you ass." Mike said with a growl. The act of the slap wasn't what surprised the lich king. It was the fact that Mike slapped him with his own severed arm. Mike grumbled as he pressed the severed end of his arm to his stump. He groaned a bit as a golden glow surrounded the arm. A few moments later, he let go and the arm seemed reattached. He flexed his arm to make sure. "There we are... good as new" Mike then glanced behind the Lich king. "Took you long enough."

"What?" The lich king quickly turned around, but his head was instantly cut off when he did. Time seemed to slow down as everyone beheld the golden warrior, Fin, wielding a beautiful amethyst sword. The lich king fell to the ground and Fin finished him off by driving his sword into his chest. At long last, the Lich king was finally, truly, slain.


	19. Reunited

_A/N Enjoy the last chapter of this story everybody! As I keep saying, I know the lore is confusing, but I promise it'll all make sense soon. __But anyway, I'll see you all next month!_

**Chapter 19:****Reunited**

The Lich King collapsed dead on the ground as Fin, breathing heavily, stood above him. His head was swimming with thoughts and emotions. I looked at his hands, slightly shocked, then to his sword.

"I understand now..." He basked in his revelation for a few moments before a key detail wormed its way into his kind. "Mike!" He glanced around the area and quickly spotted him. Mike was sitting on a rock, back against a fallen wall, holding his bloody chest. Fin, as well as everyone else, rushed to his side. "Oh jeeze... whatI do..."

"Ah... don't worry about it..." Mike said with slight strain as he sat up. "If you had used all your strength, I'd be a dead man already."

"So you're not gonna die?"

"Not today." Mike groaned as the others watched in awe as his chest began to heal. Meanwhile, Fin grinned.

"Good. Because I want to confront you on a few things."

"It wasn't me, it was the one armed man."

"I'm being serious." Fin replied before narrowing his eyes a bit. "You didn't come to Ooo looking for someone stronger than you... You came searching for someone specific. Your brother." Mike smirked a bit in reply.

"Yes. I did. And ever since I found him, I couldn't stop smiling."

"Wait... what?" Phoebe said. "What's that mean?"

"You mean there are other humans?" Jake added.

"Nah. Not here, anyway." Mike slowly stood up.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means... He's talking about me." Fin answered.

"Wha... No, no way. I've known you for years and your dad never made any indication of a brother."

"Well Jake... Its kinda hard to explain but... I'll try." Fin took a deep breath. "The easiest way i can explain it is... Parallel universes."

"Parallel universes? But that's just a theory." Bonnie said.

"No, its real. There's dozens of them, nearly infinite amounts. But that's beside the point. The point is... Mike has been searching all over for his brothers and sisters. But the thing is, they were all kidnapped and their minds were wiped."

"Wha...? Dude, you're not making any sense." Marceline mumbled with a cocked head.

"I know it's confusing, but try to bare with me. Anyway, Mike has been searching for all of us and... I'm the last one, aren't I?" Fin asked. Mike nodded.

"Yes. After so long, I found everyone. But... there's something else." Mike looked at Bonnie. "The voice that was harassing you; I know who it is, and why they were trying to ruin you."

"What? Tell me."

"Its a man. His name is Zach. We... have a long history. Long story short, he wants my family separated and he knew that you knew one of my family: Fin. And he has wardens set in place to torment us all. For example, the Lich. He was the warden in this universe. Making sure Fin never remembers who he truly is... and the potential that he always had."

"The strength... the regeneration... You saying all humans can...?" Phoebe asked. Mike nodded.

"All. They just don't know they can, and Zach is trying to keep it that way. Its why he split my family up, we were a threat."

"A threat to what...?" Mike frowned.

"Zach... He is pure evil. Like nothing you've ever known. But that all changes now."

"How? He sounds strong. What are we supposed to-" Jake began, but a sudden burst of blinding light, that sounded almost exactly like shattered glass, appeared a few feet from them. Nothing happened for a few moments, but then six figures stepped out from the light and it closed behind them. Mike looked at the figures and grinned.

"We're all together now. And not only that... We're not alone." Tina, Frisk, Chara, Star, Marco, Mac, Fin, and Mike. **The Eight Angels**. Together at last. But they weren't alone, not by a long shot. Around them, three other portals opened. One held a sandy hellscape of monsters and bandits, another held an underground society of monsters, the next had magical beings, and the last had characters so intricate, that they could only be made by imagination.

"After so long... we're finally all together again. But now its time... Time to right so many wrongs." Mike said as he opened a portal to a strange facility housing all sorts of monsters, beasts, and anomalous objects. "It is time... To take Zach down."

Meanwhile

A figure gritted his teeth angrily and slammed his fist on his desk.

"Damn it..." They cursed as he stood. "They want a fight? I'll give them one." With of wave of their hand, they summoned forth three figures. The first was the masked pretty boy himself, handsome Jack. The second was the insane maniac, Sledge. Next was their second in command, Isaac, still emotionless and dead inside as always. Last... was the Lich King. "You all failed me miserably. However, each of you did as you were instructed, except one. The traitor will be found and dealt with, but right now, I have another job for you all." They all looked at him, ready for their assignment. "You all have stations to man. Expect an assault and kill anyone who tries to make their way to me." They nodded and dispersed. The figure sat back down in his chair and began to think. "You will not stand in my way" The figure, Zach, said as he began to laugh. "This is where it will all end for you..."


End file.
